How To Bring Down A Dark Lord: Black Style
by Miss Mercury101
Summary: What if Sirius remembered his roots after James and Lily's deaths? What he went about his revenge in a more...Slytherin manner?
1. Chapter 1

_AN & Disclaimer - Well, really hope you like the story, and I don't own Harry Potter._

How To Bring Down A Dark Lord: Black Style.

Sirius sped up as he saw the burning in the distance, desperately wishing his bike could go even faster. He was so close, so close and then he swooped down, almost falling off the bike in his rush to see if James and Lily were there. Please, he prayed, let them not be there. They went out for some milk, or something. They can't be there! He ran desperately through the door, and almost tripped over something on the floor. He glanced down and froze.

It was James. His best friend of seven years. The man who had taken him in after he'd run away from his family, without any questions asked. The man whom he loved like a brother. Funny. Didn't people say you were supposed to look peaceful when you died? Because James looked the opposite of peaceful. There was terror, anger and desperation as he lay on the floor, with his wand a few feet away from him, his arm stretched towards the stairs. His glasses were hanging off one ear, with both lenses cracked, and Sirius started to cry. He had tears trickling down his face but he did not make a noise. His best friend was gone, and it felt like his heart was breaking. Peter would pay. That fucking bastard would pay, Sirius swore silently and vehemently.

He knelt down slowly, and rearranged James' body so that it wasn't so awkwardly placed, and closed his eyes in pain. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fucking fair. James had everything going right in his life; a beautiful family, a lovely house, and if it hadn't been for the war, he would have been able to get any job that he'd set his heart on. Then he heard the cry of a baby, and bolted upright. Merlin! Was Harry still alive! And did that mean Lily was as well? He leant over and kissed James on the forehead before grabbing his wand and running up the stairs. He could see the evidence of spell damage on the walls, where Voldemort had evidently made his way through the house, and it made Sirius' skin crawl knowing that so evil a monster had made its way through the happy and loving atmosphere of James and Lily's home. He slowed. Was he still here? Was he, even now, waiting behind the door to attack whoever discovered the burning home first? Sirius rather hoped so. He wanted to make Voldemort pay for what he had done. All the deaths that were on his hands, and now James' was on that list as well. And, as he was soon to discover, so was Lily's.

Nonetheless, he silenced his footsteps accordingly. He didn't want the fucker to hear him coming. Moving along the corridor, he could still hear Harry's crying, and it was then he knew, even without seeing, that Lily was dead. She would never have allowed Harry to continue crying for so long. A lone, small tear rolled down his cheek, and he wiped it away. He couldn't afford for any distractions if there was someone in the room, but as he got closer, he could hear someone. Someone else who was crying, and not the baby's pitiful wailing for his parents who were never to return, but a more heart-wrenching kind of crying you have when someone is completely lost to you forever and you know it. Sirius quickened his pace, and attempted to ready himself for what he would find. He did not expect Snape as he swung round the doorframe, pointing his wand at the centre of the room.

The man was crying over Lily's body with Harry still wailing from his cot, and had apparently not heard Sirius approaching. His first instinct was to blast the bastard into pieces, but as he thought about it more, he decided that Snape could be useful. The words of a Sorting Hat came back to him.

"_Slytherin would help you, Mr Black. You would be great in there, I am sure of it."_

"_But I don't want to." The young Sirius objected obstinately._

"_I can see the ambition and the cunning you hold, and those are hallmarks of a true Slytherin, Mr Black."_

Sirius smiled coldly. Perhaps it was time to let some of this cunning out.

The first Snape knew of Sirius' presence in the room was when the ropes bound his arms together as well as put under Petrificus Totalus. He slumped over, away from Lily's body. Oh God! It hurt, so much, still. The pain of losing her. His only friend who'd ever truly cared about him.

He felt himself being bound to a chair, and then he was released from the Body-Bind, and he glared as he saw who had tied him up. "Black!" he spat viciously. Wasn't it bad enough he'd had to lose Lily and then most likely wait for his death at Black's hands.

"Snape." Came a somewhat civil reply from the man who stood calmly in front of him.

"What? No Snivellus?"

There was no answer apart from a small smirk, and Severus suddenly realised that this wasn't the same Black he'd known for the past ten years. This one looked decidedly more bloodthirsty, with the look in his eyes promising pain, and Severus started to feel afraid.

"Don't worry, Snape." Black laughed mockingly. "I'm not planning to harm you," and turned around, levitating Lily's body onto the nearby sofa that was used for when Harry was unable to sleep and so it was simply easier for James or Lily (or sometimes both) to sleep there. He closed her eyes gently, and slumped over her body. Snape could not hear what he was whispering, but barely moved a muscle as he waited. Finally Black kissed her on the forehead and moved back to face the captive on his chair.

"I have a deal to make with you, Snape. You help me discover your old compatriots, or I kill you." Sirius said pleasantly, but fingering his wand as he watched Snape make his decision. It wasn't a hard one.

"Unbreakable Oath then." An eyebrow was raised in question. Sirius snorted. "I wouldn't trust you as far as I could throw you, Snape, and then not even half of that distance."

"Good decision." And the two men almost shared a smile.

"Mistress?" Kreacher croaked. "There be a young Master here to see youse."

Walburga thought she'd have to get a new house-elf. This one appeared to be losing its memory. Her son was dead. And the other one could probably be the same, for all she knew or cared. Or at least tried to convince herself that she didn't care about Sirius. His leaving had wrenched a small hole in her heart, but she knew that it would have happened sooner or later; his character and the small annoying problem of morals meant he probably would never have consented to follow the Dark Lord.

"Show whoever it is in, Kreacher." Walburga said lazily, and gave a gasp of shock when the man in question entered. "Hello Mother." Sirius said with dark humour colouring his tone. "Wonderful to see you again."

"Sirius. A...pleasure to see you again," Walburga said frostily, only half-sarcastically. Her eldest son had changed so much and she was subtlety drinking in the changes. He had grown, and looked increasingly like his father. "May I inquire into your reasons for visiting?"

"Well, Mother, it mostly consists of wanting to bring the Dark Lord down," he said in a somewhat mocking tone, but Walburga did not miss the small movement of his wand as it leapt from his wrist holster to his hand.

"Really, Sirius? This need to help the Mudbloods again? Can you not see that he is trying to do something good for the wizarding world?" she argued passionately. This might be the last chance she'd have to argue with her son about what was right, for him and the world in general. "He wants to improve our life-style, instead of having to worry about Mudbloods and half-bloods desecrating it!"

Sirius gave a hysterical bark of laughter. "You think the Dark Lord is so great, Mother. The Dark Lord is holding up the ideal pureblood culture, hmm? So why is he fucking killing them? "He roared, ignoring the gasp from his mother when he swore. "He's killed James Potter, and many other purebloods, and you know how few of us there are left!"

Walburga retorted furiously. "They were blood traitors! They deserved to die for consorting with Mudbloods!"

"Right." Sirius said calmly, although there was a dangerous undercurrent underlying his tone, indicating just how irate he was. "So why did he kill Regulus?"

A silence echoed throughout the room.

"Do you mean to tell me that the Dark Lord killed my son?" Walburga finally asked.

"Yes. He sent us, that is to say, the Order, his body. Probably to try and warn us off infiltrating. And Regulus was the one chosen to send that message."

"But Lucius Malfoy told me he'd been killed in battle with the Order," she exclaimed.

"He was lying. The fucker sent us a message telling us he had no qualms about killing his own men if he thought they were trying to work against him. I suppose he thought that Regulus was trying to desert." Another brief silence took over.

"That man used _my_ son as a message and killed him. He dared to murder a _Black_!" Walburga said, her voice rising, nearly rising out of her armchair as if she would go after the Dark Lord there and then. Then she sat back in the chair.

"I believe he will have to pay," she finally said with a cold smile; so cold that it probably would freeze ice. In fact, Sirius was almost tempted to see if it could.

"But, the Dark Lord is dead, Mother."

"No, Sirius, he is not." Walburga replied calmly. "He came to ask for the permission of the use of the Black Library when he was still at Hogwarts. My father was charmed by him and so agreed, but kept a watchful eye on the books he viewed. They spoke of Horcruxes, and it is my belief that he was mad enough to create them."

Sirius was frowning. "What the hell are Horcruxes?"

"Dark magic that one uses in order to preserve their existence on this planet. You have to kill in cold blood to put a piece of your soul into a container of some sort, and you cannot die until this container is destroyed. I believe that the Dark Lord has created several of these containers, and so his spirit still lives on somewhere." Walburga finished.

"So you suggest that we destroy them?" Sirius questioned. "Well, I would help you Mother, and avenge my friends, but there is one thing that I would like to ask of you before I leave."

"Yes?" she questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Harry-"

"The Potter boy?" she interrupted.

"Yes, Mother." Sirius said, slightly exasperated at her interruption. "I need someone...trustworthy to care for him whilst I hunt down those other bastards and the Horcruxes."

"I might have an alternate idea, actually, Sirius, that does not include you spending your youth on hunting down others who are likely to kill you. No, I propose a meeting of the purebloods, in which we can hope to change their beliefs regarding a certain half-blood." A vicious smile accompanied these words, and was soon joined by one from Sirius, as they plotted the downfall of the Dark Lord together. As a family.

Two weeks later

Walburga watched as the other purebloods entered. Her own family came first, with Sirius at the head – it would not do to have the hostess' own family late to such a meeting. Then the Malfoys, who were quickly followed by the Lestranges and Yaxleys. The Rosiers, Crabbes and Goyles all entered together, and there was a short pause before the Carrows entered. Walburga sneered inwardly. The Carrows had once been a great family, before the father of the two here had lost his fortune in gambling, and the present ones did not seem inclined to attempt to restore their lost family honour. Next were the Averys and Notts, and finally Dolohov. The doors slammed shut as he entered, and he flinched, looking over his shoulder as he made his way to his seat.

"Well. Now we are all here, I believe we should get down to business, as it were," Walburga finally said. "I want to bring down the Dark Lord."

This was greeted with an uproar of shouting, and more than half of the men present, as well as her niece Bellatrix, attempted to leave but were shocked by the electricity crackling along the doors as they reached for the door handle. Walburga simply watched them with a small smirk playing about her lips, and when she turned to look, Sirius had the same expression.

"Tell us what this is really about, Aunt Walburga!" Bellatrix snarled as she wheeled away from the doors and strode back to her seat. Her husband followed like a little lost puppy, the matriarch of the Black family noted scornfully.

"Well, apart from bringing down the Dark Lord, dear Bellatrix." Walburga started sweetly. "I did want to make a point about the disgrace that you have brought on to the Black family."

"What? Why?" Bellatrix paled, and her eyes widened in shock. This usually started the disownment speech, and she certainly had no wish to be disowned.

"You follow a half-blood." Mutterings started amongst the group gathered there. "You are not staying true to the pureblood way of life if you follow..." (here came a disdainful sniff) "a half-blood. And so do the rest of you with that filthy Mark on your arm." The mutterings increased.

"Aunt Walburga, may I please ask what the hell do you mean when you say half-blood?" Lucius Malfoy demanded furiously.

"Language, dear nephew. And oh, I do feel a sudden thirst. Sirius, please bring me some water." The old woman said, fanning herself with a quickly transfigured fan.

Nobody appeared to have really taken into account what Sirius' presence meant and Bellatrix Lestrange stood up hurriedly, levelling her wand at him. "Cousin!" she spat. "What is a blood traitor like you doing here?"

"Why, cousin?" Sirius replied with a smirk on his lips as he bowed flamboyantly. "Have you missed me?" Several chuckles broke out at this, and most noticeably, Walburga was one of them. Bellatrix flushed, but kept her wand trained on Sirius.

"You know what I mean, cousin," she said, her teeth gritted. "Why. Are. You. Here?"

"Why else but to help my dear mother bring down the Dark Lord, dear Bellatrix. And never fear, I am no spy for the Order. I simply want to rip the fucker into tiny, little, bloody pieces after what he's done to me." Sirius said calmly. Bellatrix stared a moment longer, and Sirius felt like she was trying to look through him. Finally, she nodded and returned to her seat. "It's nice to have you back...Sirius." He inclined his head towards her and then conjured a glass of water which he presented to his mother, who took it with a gracious nod.

"But 'ow do we know that you're not simply making this up?"Amycus Carrow whined. "For all we know, 'e really is a pureblood."

Oh for Merlin's sake! Walburga thought exasperatedly. "I went to school with the boy," she said calmly, hiding her annoyance with the idiot. "I saw the state of his manners when he was sorted into Slytherin, and so of course I know all about Tom Riddle's true heritage. The son of a Muggle father and a witch mother. He did not even have the decency to be born to a Mudblood father, who at least would have had some magic. So one could say it is our responsibility to wipe out the rot before it spreads to the rest of the tree." Murmurs of agreement came from around the room.

Only Lucius Malfoy did not look convinced. "You have something to say, perhaps, Lucius?" Walburga asked. Her tone was seemingly casual but an edge of danger belied that sentiment.

"I simply cannot see why you would choose to oppose the Dark Lord since he is so useful in attempting to maintain the pureblood way of life. He got rid of the Mudbloods with ease and he is easily the most powerful wizard of the century."

"Lord Malfoy, may I ask you then why he murders purebloods if he is so supportive of them? You know how precious few of us there remain, and yet he kills them like there are many more to spare. Well, I for one would like to put an end to him when he starts killing the Old Families. He has already murdered James Potter who is rightfully one of us, and my son as well. When he turns on those who have helped him so, it is time to get rid of him." Walburga said casually, yet gripping her wand in her pocket, so that it was ready to be drawn out quickly.

"But Potter was a blood traitor, and Black was a..." He quickly realised who he was talking to and closed his mouth immediately before he insulted his wife's family anymore.

"How exactly would we go about destroying him then?" asked Sebastian Nott. "We all know he is not dead; the Marks on our arms attest to that, so how exactly is he is still alive?"

"He has created Horcruxes."

There was a sharp intake of breath from nearly everybody in the room. Predictably, the Carrows were looking confused, and Walburga looked scornfully at them; she wasn't going to explain to them what Horcruxes were.

"But how would we find them?" asked one of the Yaxleys.

"I have one." Bellatrix mentioned casually, swinging her wand by its handle. "It's in my vault.

"Um, sorry, dear, but don't you mean our-" Rodolphus piped up but was promptly interrupted by Bellatrix. "Rodolphus." She said warningly, but not even glancing at him. He shut up.

"I believe he would have chosen items that mean something to him. What is yours, Bella?" Walburga said thoughtfully.

"Helga Hufflepuff's cup. Is it possible that he would have chosen other Founders' items?" Bellatrix questioned eagerly. She was feeling slightly disgusted with herself: she had _chosen_ to follow a _half-blood_! It was not proper for a Black to follow any other than a Black, or at least of pure blood, and she had failed the family's honour, and now she felt a duty to bring down the man who had so carefully enslaved most of her companions.

"It is possible, I suppose." Walburga allowed. Inside she was thinking quickly. There were rumours that her old school friend had applied for a teaching position at Hogwarts but had been turned down by the recent arrival to the post of Headmaster – Albus Dumbledore. It was possible that he may have taken one of the Founders' items whilst there, or maybe more, and used them for his Horcruxes.

"I suppose I should agree with all of this, but really, Aunt Walburga, you can't possibly hope to defeat the Dark Lord. He has more power than any of us have seen for years." Lucius scoffed. "In fact, I'm quite tempted to leave now. Come, Narcissa." She did not move. "Narcissa. Follow me." He said forcefully, turning round on his way to the door.

"No, Lucius. I would prefer to stay with my blood family since they are speaking sense right now. Have you forgotten how many times the Dark Lord has cursed you, nearly to death?" Narcissa pleaded. "If you have any sense, you will stay so that our son will not suffer the same fate!"

"And may I also remind you, Lord Malfoy, that I hold more power at my fingertips than you could ever dream of." Walburga said frostily. "And that includes wiping from your memory the details of this conversation so that you cannot pass it on." The man in question hesitated before he reached the door. His shoulders slumped in surrender as he turned back to his chair.

"Very well, Aunt Walburga. What would you have me do? " he asked. " For I have another Horcrux. A diary."

"Well, I propose..." And as she carried on talking about her plans, a few evil laughs were heard from the room, making the spirit currently in Albania instinctively shiver in fear although he was oblivious as to why.

As the plans were being developed - with Sirius a large proponent in them – Walburga smiled. She was sure he would come back into the house, if only for the small boy currently living there, and between them, she was sure that they could raise Harry to be a proper Slytherin. He would be the epitome of cunning and ambition. He was already at the moment and in ten years, would be the master. Actually, she thought, it would probably be best to change his name, so nobody would find him. The Dark Lord Voldemort – although with the plans of finding his Horcruxes, destroying them, and then bringing him back so that he could be destroyed for good – would probably not prove to be much of a problem.

It was Dumbledore she was most worried about. Putting the Potters under an Order-approved house with only a Fidelius? She snorted. It would have made a lot more sense for them to inhabit one of the older Potter mansions, since they, as an Old Family, would have wards and enchantments on them that Voldemort could have never hoped to break. And as for the Secret Keeper? He could have put it on somebody a whole lot more trustworthy. Really, the man was supposed to be the most powerful in Britain. He could have at least Legilimen-ed peoples' minds to see who the traitor was. And it turned out to be the Mudblood one. No real surprise there, Walburga thought contemptuously.

Perhaps she should give Harry a Black name. Yes...she quickly went over the possible names, although how they were going to explain his sudden appearance into the family would be difficult. Perhaps a long lost love child of Sirius'? That would prove to be no surprise for those who knew of his womanising reputation at Hogwarts. Yes, and it had been a Mudblood who had had to go into hiding, who had named their child...Caelum Black? She smirked. These next years would prove to be most interesting.

_AN - Hope you liked it, and pleasse don't forget to read and review. Reviews are always a nice present for the writers who put so much time and effort into writing. Thanks!_


	2. Chapter 2

_AN – Thank you for all the positive responses! They have really made me happy! Also, I would like to take this chance to answer a few points that were raised in the last chapter's reviews._

_To: __Sol Swan Cullen __– I chose the name Caelum because I wanted a typically Black name, and they really like the stars (e.g. Sirius, Regulus, Andromeda) for their choice of names, so I went through a list of stars (dedicated, huh?). Caelum was the one that I chose because I wanted a name that actually made sense (and not something like Nihal, which is in Beta Leporis, according to Wikipedia). This is also taken from Wikipedia:_ _**"**__**Caelum**__** is a faint constellation in the southern sky, introduced in the eighteenth century by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. Its name means "the chisel" in Latin, and it was formerly known as **__**Cæla Sculptoris**__**, "the sculptor's chisel". It is the eighth smallest constellation, with an area just less than that of Corona Australis."**_ _Besides, I like the name. You do pronounce it Cay-lum by the way, right? Because that's how I'm doing it._

_To: __Jayy __– Thanks for pointing it out. I'd realised in this chapter that I'd made the same mistake so thanks again. And also for reading it so closely as well._

_To: __Wonderbee31 __– Those are some really good ideas. Do you mind if I incorporate them into the story?_

_Now, onto Chapter 2, along with the disclaimer that I don't own Harry Potter. I should also probably mention that there's a bit of torture in this first scene, so if you don't like that, then don't read. It's basically Severus and Sirius killing Peter in a nasty way. Also, does anyone else find it really hard to call Severus Severus? Because I can't stop wanting to call him just Snape._

"Hello, Peter." Sirius said coldly. "Such a...pleasure to see you again." The small man in front of him trembled with fear. It had taken him a while to find the traitor that was currently crouching in front of him, having just been made to turn back from his rat form. Snape had had to use a rather Dark potion to find him, but Sirius had no more aversions to that. In fact, it was a lot easier, and gave results. Good results.

Sirius' sneer increased and he stepped forward. "Did you really think I wouldn't find you, Peter?" He shook his head in mock sadness. He bent down to whisper slowly and with a tone full of promise in Peter's ear.

"I will make you pay. And I also believe someone else has a little score to settle as well," and Peter's eyes widened in terror as he saw Snape step into the room, with a look of detachment on his face, as if he wanted to distance himself from a horrible task that he was about to perform. Peter swallowed. There had been a reason the Marauders took on Snape four to one; it was rumoured he had knowledge of some very nasty curses, and he had probably learnt many more in the Dark Lord's service. He whimpered. He knew he was going to die, and very painfully.

"Sirius, you must understand!" Peter cried out suddenly. His only hope was to persuade Sirius to see reason. "Dumbledore wanted me to! He wanted me to be a spy! Why do you think he never offered any other names of people who Voldemort would never expect for the Secret Keeper? That's why he wanted Lily and James to live in Godric's Hollow, because it was only the Fidelius to break through there! Please, Sirius! It wasn't my fault!" Peter knew he was babbling. But Sirius and Snape were looking at each other with confusion, so Peter allowed himself a small bit of hope. "And the Dark Lord was so powerful; his power was so seductive...It was so hard to not go." But as soon as he had said this, Sirius turned to him with a new fire in his eyes, and he knew he had said the wrong thing. Peter whimpered again.

"But the rest of us didn't turn, did they, Peter," Sirius said, almost gently. "You were always the weak one though. Relying on Remus, James and I to protect you all the time. Well, you shouldn't have listened to the Dark Lord. We would have died for you, Peter, as you should have wanted to for us. Although I suppose you will now." Sirius added indifferently. Snape simply sneered at Peter.

"So, Severus, would you like to go first?" Sirius asked him cordially.

"Why I would most certainly love to do so, Sirius." Snape answered, stepping forwards with a smirk on his face. "Now, are there any limits on what I can do?"

"Just don't curse him out of his mind. I want him knowing when his death is approaching," Sirius said casually, stepping back out of reach of any possible blood spatters.

"Sirius, please!" Peter begged. "We've been friends for ten years! Doesn't that mean anything?"

"You stopped being my friend as soon as you took the Mark." Sirius snapped. "You received my undying hatred the moment you betrayed James and Lily to Voldemort. And you're now going to die for what you did to them, to me, to Remus, to Snape here, and to everyone else who you condemned when giving information to Voldemort, " Sirius stated formally.

Oh Merlin, oh Merlin, Peter thought panickedly. Looking around desperately, he saw his wand and so he made a last attempt at freedom, lunging forward to try and grab his wand which was lying on the floor, where he had dropped it after transforming back. Sirius summoned the wand, however, just before Peter could get his fingers wrapped around the length, and Severus cast a quick _Petrificus Totalus_, before bending down to Peter's level.

"Really, Pettigrew?" Snape sneered. "I at least thought you had _some_ brains. I suppose we should make sure that doesn't happen again then." And with those words, Snape cast a quick charm that allowed a sword seemingly on fire to appear. Somehow Snape managed to put his hands around the handle without burning himself and gave it a few swings. After he'd loosened his muscles, he quickly and expertly swung the flaming sword onto Peter's wrists, cleanly amputating his hands. Peter, still under the _Petrificus Totalus_, was unable to scream in pain or make any movement as he watched his hands be severed from his body.

"And that was only a taste of what's to come, Peter." Snape whispered in his ear. There was a reason why, in the Dark Lord's service, Snape had become a man feared for his torture. He excelled in psychological torture as well as the physical, which he mused, none of the other Death Eaters had developed as well as he had. He had found that simply saying what was going to happen next increased the reactions even more, and gave results much more quickly than those of other prisoners under other Death Eaters.

"So shall we warm up with some Cruciatus, Peter? And then move onto something slightly more...punishing?" Severus asked, although no question could be heard in his tone. No reply was forthcoming, and he sighed in annoyance as he realised his earlier spell was still on. He released it, and sobs and blubbers immediately came from the pathetic creature on the floor in front of him. The screams of pain would be a sort of vengeance for sweet Lily, and he set about his task with glee.

Peter writhed under the Cruciatus, howling with pain, and Snape almost wished Bellatrix was there. She had the art of the Cruciatus down to a fine point, and she knew exactly how long one could hold it on for without the victim losing their mind. It had taken a lot of trial and error though. He released the spell and considered the snivelling man on the floor. What else could he do? Ah! There was one potion he had recently developed that allowed the victim to feel as if their insides were burning and at the same time being pushed out through their mouths, and he pulled a sample out of his pocket.

"Don't suppose you could hurry it up, Snape, could you?" Sirius suddenly asked, apologetically. "It's just if I stay in one place for too long the Aurors are able to track me, and they still think I was responsible for several murders of Death Eaters just outside of Nottingham." These were of course Death Eaters that had refused to join the meeting on bringing down Voldemort, and Sirius had taken it into his own hands to get rid of them. Although he had left no evidence at the scene, someone had seen him and reported it to the Aurors who were now very eager to have him put under Veritaserum, which would have been very dangerous for those hunting down the Horcruxes as Sirius knew nearly all the details. Therefore, he was now a man on the run, and spent most of his time in Grimmauld Place, since it was Unplottable, and looking after Harry. Caelum, he corrected himself. Really, why did Mother have to give him a star name? Although, he conceded, it was a good way of hiding him from the Ministry. Hopefully they would think that anyone who had taken the small boy would never dare to change the name of the Boy-Who-Lived. Hopefully.

Snape glared at him. "I would like time to carry out my revenge, Black," he said deliberately. "I am sure you would like the same consideration." Sirius winced. The accusations in Snape's voice were true; he would not want anyone to disturb him whilst trying to avenge his dead friends, so he nodded and sat back again.

Snape deliberated. What to do next? He had been experimenting with a new potion that would allow the victim to see their nightmares become real everywhere they looked but had a horrible feeling that had been done already. Somewhere in America, he believed. Was it Gotham maybe? That name did seem familiar.

Moving on, perhaps he would just remove his limbs? But the hands were already gone...Or complete sensory deprivation but with enhanced pain? Yes. Rather slipping from his normal ways of interrogation but he could probably use the shaking up of a routine to be tried on this rat in front of him. He cast the spell, and watched the rat try to make a sound, and its movements became more frantic as it realised it couldn't see, touch, hear, smell or even taste anything. Then he cast _Sectumsempra_, and watched dispassionately as wounds opened up all across Pettigrew's body. The man attempted to scream but could only open his mouth. Pathetic, Snape thought, sneering.

Then he hesitated. Should he stop now? And allow Black to take his revenge? Lily would probably want that; he couldn't imagine her wanting anyone to kill in her name. So he stopped. But only out of respect of Lily, who probably would have preferred that he hadn't done that last bit. Ah well. He healed the wounds but not with any great skill, so that scars would be left - if he lived that long - and then removed the spell dampening Pettigrew's senses. Snape moved back as he watched the blubbering rat on the floor thrash about in pain, and his lip curled in contempt. How Pettigrew had ever been part of the Marauders was beyond him.

Sirius cleared his throat, and Snape nodded at him. He could have his turn, and the spell that Black then cast at the rat on the floor was an easily recognisable Black spell. He had seen Bellatrix use it but only a few times; it was known that it took a lot of power to cast it, and it made Snape realise he should never cross the man again if he valued his life. It seemed the loss of James and Lily had unleashed the Darker side of the heir to the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black.

The rat groaned in pain, grabbing his attention, and Snape watched in sick fascination as the traitor's body appeared to be turning itself inside out. Not much made him nauseous, but this was starting to, and he turned away.

"Goodbye, Peter." Sirius then said formally, and left the room accompanied with Peter's screams of pain, and Snape hurried to catch him up.

There was silence for a short while, until, "The rat did have a point," Sirius mused. "The protections on the Potter mansion were much more powerful than anything on Godric's Hollow, so why didn't Dumbledore suggest living there? Unless..."

"Unless what the rat said is true." Snape completed the sentence. "That Dumbledore wanted them to die. But why? We were all loyal to him."

"Perhaps we should take this up with my mother." Sirius finally suggested. "Her contacts in the Ministry and Hogwarts are second to none."

Snape nodded in agreement, and they strode from the building together, leaving only an unrecognizable mess of blood and bone behind them. Two sharp cracks of Apparation sounded, and it was only a few minutes later that a small fox poked its nose around the entrance door. Sensing nobody nearby, it gave a loud bark of encouragement to the other foxes nearby to come feed from the former Peter Pettigrew on the floor in one of the abandoned rooms.

Seven years later

There was a loud knock at the door, and Walburga glanced up from her notes, which detailed the Horcruxes that had been found and destroyed. So far, they had destroyed the diary, the Hufflepuff cup, and the diadem, whose location had been gently coaxed out of the Grey Lady by a very charming Evan Rosier, who had been a former Ravenclaw and had therefore heard about the famous legend that was Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem. There were rumours that Riddle had chosen Slytherin's locket as a Horcrux, and they were taking steps to find it and the others.

Nott had been put in charge of inventing a device that would allow them to track the Horcruxes and at the last meeting for the update on the search, he had said it was close to being completed. She suspected that the snake Voldemort had kept so close to him was also a Horcrux, but she could not for the life of her think of what the others might be. It was likely he had made seven – Snape had remembered that the Dark Lord had often said seven was a the most powerful number; he usually made his...points in numbers of seven – so it was highly possible that he had also made seven Horcruxes.

"Kreacher!" Walburga called. "Please show whoever that is into the formal living room," and she put her notes inside an unbreakable box, and locking it carefully with her wand. She cast a glamour over it that made it look like a vase and placed it on the mantel, before leaving the room. Walking down the stairs, she saw the uniform of an Auror outside the room and frowned, but stepped into the room with confidence, and almost paused in shock.

"Ms. Bones." Walburga greeted stiffly, whilst closing the door. What was the Director of Magical Law Enforcement doing here? Sirius still remained on the run, as far as anyone knew, Bellatrix had been arrested soon after she had handed the cup over. However, it had proved to be a kick in the teeth for the Aurors as she had then been released after claiming that she was under the Imperius, and together with a hefty donation to the Ministry – but really to the new Minister Fudge – the case against her had been dropped quickly.

"Mrs Black. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, and rather than dancing around the subject of why I am here, I would like to know what you know about Horcruxes." Amelia Bones replied with a pleasant smile on her face.

To Walburga's credit, she only froze for a moment, but quickly regained her wits. "Horcruxes, Director? Now why are you speaking of such Dark magic?"

Amelia rolled her eyes. "Really, Mrs Black? Let's not play games. That would only be a waste of time for both of us. Now, I'll ask again. What do you know of Horcruxes, and whose exactly are you trying to destroy?"

"May I ask from where you received this information?" Walburga asked quietly. Her voice was very controlled so as to not let out her anger. She would find the idiot that gave away this information and make sure he or she was sorry. Hadn't she expressly forbidden the involvement of the Ministry – they would only mess it up somehow. The Unspeakables would probably want to study the Horcruxes, and maybe even bring Lord Voldemort back to determine exactly how they functioned.

The woman in front of her did not answer. Most sensible, Walburga thought wryly. She would lose all information of what was happening if she gave the name.

"May I ask then what you plan to do with this information?" Walburga questioned. She still hadn't actually said she knew what was happening with the Horcruxes, although Bones did not appear to want to use the information for arresting her. What could she want it for? Revenge as she was soon to discover.

"My informant has told me that the Horcruxes belong to You-Know-Who. If this is true, then I would like to help you."

Walburga arched an eyebrow. "And what exactly could you do?"

"I _am_ part of the Ministry. I have contacts in every department, including the Department of Mystery, and I could help you. After all, you've only found, what, three of them?" Amelia said, slightly mockingly. Walburga flushed slightly. How was she to blame?

"And do you know how to destroy them?" Walburga asked in return. She was rewarded with Amelia flushing in embarrassment and no answer so she smirked with gratification. "And please don't assume that you are the only one with contacts in all areas in the Ministry. I have a few who could tell me what exactly you get up to in your office..."

"What?" Amelia snapped in shock. "But nobody knows..." and trailed off as she saw the knowing smirk on the older woman's face. She closed her eyes in despair. "You were bluffing weren't you?" Her wait for a reply was in vain as she saw the door open, and in walked Sirius Black.

"Hah!" Sebastian Nott cried in glee. "It's finished!" The device he had so carefully been working on was finished, and it only remained for him to input what exactly he was looking for; a Horcrux. On first appearance, it seemed to be no more than an old-fashioned compass or watch, but if anyone had on a charm that could allow them to see the workings of magic, they would quickly identify the bright silver of a Locating Charm. All Nott had to do was conjure the letters of Horcrux in the air, and float them down to land on the compass. It quickly took the letters and formed them into the word it had been given – one had to do it with the word spelt correctly: take an 'H,' an 'O', and so on and so forth – and Bingo. The compass would flicker, and snap straight into the direction in which the Horcrux lay. The only hard part was diving where exactly the Horcrux was, but it was better than simple guesswork.

He almost ran to the Floo, and tossed some green powder in. "Grimmauld Place!" he called, and slowly, an impeccably clean living room flickered into view. "Hello!" he called again, but nobody answered. Nott waited for a few minutes, before a house-elf finally appeared.

"What can Kreacher be doing for Master Nott?" it croaked, and Nott shook back a momentary shudder of disgust at the sight of the creature. Its pillowcase, although somewhat clean, had traces of grime on it and it was one of the uglier house-elves in the current market.

"Please take a message to your mistress that I have finished the...device. She'll know what I mean." Nott said curtly. What exactly should he start calling it? It needed a proper name; not just a 'Horcrux Locating Device.'

"Yes, sir, Kreacher be doing that. But Mistress be meeting with Mistress Bones. They be arguing about Master Sirius." The house-elf muttered in disapproval of the young Black.

Nott groaned. That was sure to take a while. He dismissed the elf and withdrew his head from the fireplace. What to do now, he deliberated. Perhaps he could...No. Walburga had forbidden the search of Horcruxes alone. But, if it had been implanted in a living object, he could lose the signal if it hid underneath a rock of something. Here he was thinking of that blasted snake that the Dark Lord had always had around him; it was quite possible that a Horcrux had been put into the reptile. He deliberated. Should he try? Or not? What was the worst that could happen?

Taking the compass, he looked at the direction it was pointing to: south, so he apparated towards the coast. The Nott Manor lay south of London, and was only about 10 miles from Hastings, so it appeared the snake was somewhere near the sea.

He apparated to Hastings, arriving in a dark alley and looked at the compass. It swung around wildly, before settling on the eastern point. Casting a glamour over his robes so that he blended in with the Muggles, he walked out of the alley. He gained a few odd looks from those who noticed him, but he simply kept walking, following the trail. It took about half an hour, and a few near car accidents but he'd finally made his way out of town, towards a small wood. Nott crowed in delight! It was most likely in there and the small beeps that the compass was now emitting only proved that the Horcrux was nearby. Looking around to make sure no Muggles were watching, he apparated to the border of the woods and walked in, with the beeps sounding closer together. Apparating just a few metres further in, he looked around and then, "Merlin!" he shrieked as he apparated again.

He caught a momentary glimpse of a large snake lunging through the place where he'd just been standing, and he thanked Merlin that his reflexes were still as sharp as ever. Lucky he'd had all that practise dodging Crucios from the Dark Lord, heh? But you could also argue that it was very unlucky to come across the Horcrux that had its own painful manner of killing you. Actually, it was probably a wise idea to concentrate on the snake that had turned itself around and was once more preparing to attack.

"Um...good Nagini?" Sebastian asked weakly. "Good snake?" If anything, this only enraged the snake further, who hissed and curled her body back into a zigzag shape, ready to spring. Ah, to hell with it, Nott decided and shot an _Avada_ _Kedavra_ at the snake. If a snake could look surprised, this one did. Of course, Nott was even more surprised when a misty grey vapour rose up out of the body of the deceased snake, but he simply cast _Lumos_, making the vapour drift apart and could have sworn he heard a faint scream as he watched the mist disappear into the air.

"That was quite anti-climatic, really," Nott commented to no-one in particular. "I expected more of a battle," but shrugged his shoulders and apparated to London.

"You can't arrest him!" Walburga screamed. "He's done nothing wrong!"

"He murdered six people!" Amelia screamed back.

"Allegedly murdered." Walburga corrected. "There is nothing linking him to the murders; just very circumstantial evidence, which the Wizengamot would never take for real evidence. And since it's been seven years, I wouldn't believe there would still be any evidence that could possibly link my son to the murders." Sirius was simply standing in the corner with an amused look on his face, as though he didn't realise they were talking about a very serious accusation against him, Amelia thought scornfully.

"Well, since you seem so confident about your son's innocence, you wouldn't mind if I took him down to the Ministry and asked him there, would you?" Amelia asked sweetly. She knew she painted the other woman into a corner, and Sirius Black, but his expression did not look good for her. She knew that smirk from Hogwarts: he had done something which would not prove to be at all good for those in the authorities; in this case, her.

"Oh yes?" Sirius asked, smirking. "You and whose army?"

"Why the army that I have outside the door, Mr Black." Amelia replied happily. Finally she could close the case on the Nottingham murders.

"Oh, so that's was the Auror was here for," Sirius said in a tone of enlightenment.

"Exactly, Mr Black. Now, Carter!" Amelia called to the Auror outside the door. "Carter!" There was no answer. "What did you do?" she snapped spinning round to look at Sirius.

"Nothing," he replied casually, and still with that blasted smirk on his face. "Just, maybe, stunned him?"

Amelia groaned inwardly. "Well, I'll just have to come back later with an army then, won't I," she said sarcastically. That would probably prove to be a lot of paperwork, she thought, groaning inwardly again. And didn't she just _love_ paperwork!

Both the Blacks looked amused, however, rather than fearful. "Director, you hardly think I'm going to let you walk out of my house with the knowledge of where it is and that my son is living here, and then allow you to bring back your Aurors, do you?" Walburga said, laughing.

Amelia was immediately on her guard; her wand withdrawn from her holster and crouched in a defence position.

Walburga simply laughed again. "Oh really, Director? As if it would help us to have the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement go missing whilst visiting the Blacks. Instead I propose a deal that I feel will be beneficial for the both of us. You ignore the little...misdemeanour that happened up in Nottingham, and really, is getting rid of Death Eaters such a bad thing? And in return, I allow you to help with the Horcrux hunt. Is that satisfactory?"

It was at this point that Sebastian Nott stumbled into the room.

_AN – I also want to say thanks to BajaB who sort of inspired me to write this fic; writing about a Sirius gone Dark after James and Lily's death. And to everyone else, you should go read that fic: Dark Marauder. It is __really__ good. And byt the way, I have no idea where this whole Dumbledore thing came from. When I was writing, I think the 'make it more interesting' plot bunny took over my brain._

_By, the way, would anyone like to take a guess on where I borrowed the Horcrux finding device from? Well, to be more precise, its description. _


	3. Chapter 3

_Thanks, everyone, for your reviews. I have to say, it is lovely to be favourited and have so many story alerts! So, keep reading, please, if you want to; I'm not actually going to find your addresses and come force you to keep reading!_

_To: .MyLife __– No, don't worry, he won't be really dark. Just willing to embrace that lifestyle, which is mostly because it's easier in its morality for him, I think, and it's much easier to fit in with the other purebloods that he associates with. But he won't be completely dark because he's still holding onto to that – he never wanted to be completely like his family, I believe. And what exactly is AVPM? _

_To: Wolfe7__ – I hadn't actually thought of that one, but it could be. The idea came from The Vampire Diaries, because I had been watching it then. But that's a very good idea._

_And now onto Chapter 3. Hope you enjoy! And with the disclaimer that I don't own Harry Potter, this chapter is ready to start._

Sebastian Nott looked faintly surprised. After all, it was not every day one walks into a room after killing a Horcrux only to find the woman one was meant to be reporting to, her son and the Director of Magical Law Enforcement having a screaming match. And with an unconscious Auror outside the door?

"Ah, Sebastian." Walburga greeted him. "So nice of you to join us, but I'm afraid we're rather busy at the moment. Unless you have had any luck on your invention?"

Nott gaped. Why on earth was she bringing this up in front of the Director of Magical Law Enforcement? Recovering with some considerable aplomb, he swallowed, and nodded. "I have managed to finish it, yes, and have had some rather satisfactory results. It appears to work, and so I have managed to use it for the...well..."Amelia was looking politely puzzled as he struggled to finish his sentence without using the words Horcrux or snake.

Walburga was looking gradually more and more frustrated as he stammered, and finally exclaimed, "Oh, just spit it out, Sebastian! She knows about the Horcruxes."

He flinched, but managed to finish his sentence; "I have managed to use it for the location of the snake Horcrux. Which I killed."

Amelia looked rather impressed, while Walburga displayed no emotion. Inside though, you could definitely tell she was jumping for joy. Well, if a jump consists of a movement of two centimetres. After all, once a Horcrux has been destroyed in front of you for the first time, it's pretty much all the same for the next times. Y'know, been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Sirius, however, grinned madly, before jumping up and hugging the startled Nott, before sedately sitting down again. He was the recipient of a few strange looks, and Nott subtly moved several steps away from him. He did _not_ want to be huggedagain.

"So creatures can be made into Horcruxes now?" Amelia asked curiously.

Walburga nodded. "The Dark Lord had a constant companion, named Nagini, at his side all the time, and apparently made her into a Horcrux. So, that is four that we have destroyed. I don't suppose you happen to have the compass on you, do you, Sebastian? It may be that a Horcrux lies within these very walls."

Sirius muttered something about Death Eater brothers, before Walburga silenced him with a hard glare. Nott acquiesced, drawing out from his pocket a small compass, one that was of the piratical age. He opened it carefully, and it immediately started to beep frantically. "Oh dear," Walburga murmured. "I had hoped that I was wrong."

"Well," Amelia said, after a few long moments of the four all staring at the compass. "It looks like we have a Horcrux to destroy." Nobody moved.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake!" Sirius rolled his eyes in irritation. "We've already got rid of four!" and strode towards the door, slamming it on his way out. The others simply looked at each other before following.

"Shall we?" Sebastian queried, holding the door open for the two women. Outside in the hall, the beeping increased its pace frantically as Sebastian approached the stairs, and he waved it towards the other doors that led off the hall. Only one door merited an increased beeping and they moved towards it.

"The dining room," Walburga muttered softly, hardly aware of doing so, and reached out her hand to open the door. Sirius, Amelia, and Sebastian all flinched back as her hand touched the doorknob, but there were no sudden flashes of green, or any other colour, and Walburga turned the doorknob slowly.

Inside lay a beautiful room with frescoes of the night sky lining the wall, and a table set for the next formal party that the Blacks had held routinely before their younger son's death, which had then been shortly followed by Orion's death. The plates now were all dusty, and the bright light of the stars were somewhat faded from the passage of time. The silver cutlery had lost its shine, and Walburga made a mental note to have the house elves clean this room more often. It looked like Kreacher had been neglecting his duties as Head House-Elf; he would have to punish himself, Walburga thought distractedly.

Nott entered the room, walking slowly around the table and the glass cupboards that lined the walls, before the beeping became a non-stop sound at the middle cupboard.

"Oh!" Walburga gasped. The middle cupboard was the one directly above the place setting where Regulus had routinely sat. The door swung open; it obviously hadn't been closed properly, and Walburga made another mental note to ask Kreacher about it; he was the only one who came into the room these days.

The compass had halted on a locket engraved with the letter 'S' that was lying casually in the centre of the cupboard, and one could almost feel the Dark magic that was pouring off it. Indeed Amelia flinched back, not being used to the Dark magic being emitted unlike her companions who practised it rather regularly.

Sirius stretched his arm out as if to pick it up, but hesitated. "I don't suppose anyone has any idea on how to get rid of it? We don't have any Basilisk poison on hand at the moment."

"Well, with the snake, I cast an _Avada_ _Kedavra_ at it," Nott mentioned.

"Well, that certainly won't work on this one." Walburga sneered. "It would most likely rebound and hit one of us."

"So why did it work on the snake then?" Amelia questioned.

"It was because it was a living creature," Sirius responded monotonously, still staring at the locket. "You can kill a reptile, but not a locket. It has to be animate to be killed by the _Avada_ _Kedavra_. You can use _Fiendfyre_, though." His hand was creeping closer to the locket, unnoticed by the others.

"How do you know about this, Black?" Amelia asked, with an eyebrow arched. There was no answer, and the three turned around to watch as Sirius' hand crept ever closer to the piece of jewellery sprawled on the floor of the cupboard.

"Sirius!" Walburga snapped. "Get your hand away from that locket!"

He didn't take any notice, and the others watched in somewhat sick fascination as his skin began to bubble as it got closer to the locket. His skin appeared to be melting from his hand to be pulled through into the locket, and there were faint sounds of mad laughter coming from within the locket itself.

It was only through the use of a Banishing charm that he was able to move away from the locket. Well, thrown away from the locket would be the more precise description. Walburga gave no apology as she saw her son blinking madly, crumpled against the wall, as she turned to look at the Horcrux. "I believe it would be best not to get too close then."

Amelia simply stared at her in disbelief. "You...believe?"

The Black matriarch did not bother to answer, instead preferring to concentrate on the Horcrux. "If Fiendfyre is best for its destruction, then how would we go about it?" she mused. "Otherwise the house might burn down, and that would be such a shame."

"I would suggest some kind of lead-lined box," Amelia suggested. "The lead wouldn't burn."

Walburga looked at her again, sizing her up. Amelia was indeed proving to be some kind of help. After this, she would have to see how she could possibly return the favour. Every politician was ambitious after all, and ambition was something that Walburga knew all about, being a Slytherin.

"We could try that." Sirius said, smoothing himself down as he got up from the floor. "Damn, Mother, that actually hurt!"

"It saved you from being consumed by the Dark Lord, didn't it?" she commented waspishly, and not waiting for a reply, turned her attention towards conjuring a lead-lined box. It was surprisingly hard, and so she changed the object in her mind that she was picturing just a simple box, before adding a lining of lead to it. She inspected it with a great deal of detail; one didn't want the _Fiendfyre_ escaping, after all, and destroying the house. It had taken her such a long time to get right. Ah, it was perfect, she decided, and said as much to the others. Sirius grinned, and quickly conjured a stick to push the locket into the box, where it sat innocuously.

"Amelia, why don't you destroy this one? It is your first time, after all and you did play a part in securing our safety from it." Walburga suggested, with a small smirk on her face. She was issuing a challenge that the woman could not turn down. If she did destroy it, then her reputation as a rather light witch would be completely shattered; at least to those who knew what had happened in this room, as _Fiendfyre_ was a rather dark spell. If she failed to accept the challenge, though, she would not be accepted by the members of this little group dedicated to destroying Voldemort' s Horcruxes and so not privy to most of the events that would occur concerning the Dark Lord's soul vessels. Basically, Walburga won either way.

The slightly angry glint in Amelia's eye showed that she had recognised the challenge. "Well, if you insist, Lady Black. After all, my job is to serve the people," she replied in a rather smug tone. She had outplayed the Black, by making it seem like she was only doing it because of the older lady. Go her! she silently cheered herself, and inwardly smirked as she watched Walburga's mouth work, trying to find some kind of retort.

She waited a few moments to prepare herself for the curse, approaching the box that so causally held one of the most evil creations of all time whilst the others stepped back; although that wouldn't do much good if the box did not work, she thought wryly.

Shaking her head, she wondered how this day had come about; she'd only expected a routine murder questioning when she'd knocked on the door of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, and now she'd ended up about to kill a Horcrux. She should have realised that this questioning would not quite be the same when it had taken her so long to obtain the Blacks' address; she had finally had to ask the new Auror Tonks about the location of their London home, which they had reportedly been living in for the past eight months after returning from their house in the countryside. Auror Tonks had simply looked at her for a long time before handing her a small piece of paper with the number of the house written upon it. She shook her head in frustration; how could she not have realised that the house was Unplottable to normal methods of finding people then?

"Please, Madam Bones. Before winter arrives," a voice said dryly from behind her, probably Mrs Black or Mr Nott, she thought without much care as she prepared to cast.

'Well, here goes!' she thought and cast _Fiendfyre_! and she fancied that she could see small, crimson dragons and phoenixes taking flight in the small box just before she slammed the lid down. A few moments were spent in complete silence as they waited for the fire to take a hold of the locket and serve its purpose, with their patience being rewarded a minute later when they heard the faint death scream of one part of a soul belonging to a Tom Marvolo Riddle.

Amelia sagged. She'd done it. She'd killed a Horcrux. And she wasn't dead. What a bonus! Sebastian Nott appeared to have had the same reaction; there was an expression of deep relief adorning his face, but still some worried lines were lining his mouth and forehead. Walburga had the same expression as earlier when Sebastian had told them of his destruction of the snake, and Sirius. Well. He was currently doing a small dance of joy in the corner, the mad boy.

With unspoken agreement they made their way back to the sitting room, where Sirius fidgeted as he sat down; he probably wanted to continue his dance, Sebastian thought. Walburga and Amelia both took their seats opposite from one another; all the better to interrogate each other, he thought dryly. The two women were looking at anywhere but each other, and the room started to fill with tension, as no-one broke the silence on what they had just done.

A few minutes passed before, "Well, I really do think I must be leaving," Sebastian said uncomfortably, wringing his hands. He was eager to get home, and see his family; the killing of two Horcruxes today had taken their toll on him, he decided, and stood. "If you'll excuse me, ladies," giving them both a small bow. "Black," he nodded cordially, and received a small nod from Sirius in return.

"Sebastian?" called Walburga in a deceptively casual tone of voice. He stopped, wincing. "Do try not to hunt Horcruxes by yourself, there's a good boy." He flushed in slight anger and mortification; he should have known she'd pick up on his earlier slip, but left quickly without any retort. Walburga watched him leave without any more comments, spinning the compass round in her hands thoughtfully.

The three left in the sitting room sat in silence, before a rather awkward comment from Sirius, who had stopped fidgeting, broke the silence. "So...that was fun?" he tried. They sat in silence for a few moments before...

"Grandma!" the adults heard someone calling. "Uncle Sirius?" Walburga and Sirius both paled. Caelum should not be seen; Amelia would realise he was Harry Potter and probably petition to have him removed from their care. Sirius moved hastily towards the door, but it was too late. The door flew open and a small boy around eight skidded in. He halted immediately as he saw Walburga standing in the middle of the room, her lips pursued. "Sorry Grandma. I forgot about not running. And why is there a man asleep on the floor outside?" he asked enquiringly.

"Merlin!" Amelia exclaimed. "Harry Potter?" And indeed it was, although the small boy looked nothing like as he had as a baby. In the early days after his birth, James Potter had gone on and on about how his new baby looked just like him only with Lily's green eyes. It eventually proved to be rather tiring for the other Aurors who had had to hear about everything that Harry had done, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief when James had finally stopped broadcasting his only move. Thinking back, Amelia found it somewhat suspicious: James had been babbling about Harry one day, and there was nearly no mention of him the next day.

But now, the hair was black, like James' but neat. The tufts were flattened down, and highlighted the large grey-tinged green eyes, that were currently watching her warily. He looked nothing like he should have, but there was no mistaking the faint lightning-bolt scar that lay upon his forehead. Dumbledore had mentioned that, after the Potters' murders and the attempted murder of their son, Harry Potter would be recognised through the existence of a scar somewhere on his person, and there was still something of James Potter that could be recognised in the way the boy held himself. It helped that they'd both been brought up by purebloods who taught them the proper way to comport oneself, Amelia thought wryly.

"I blood-adopted him." Sirius Black said bluntly as he saw Amelia's eyes rove over the boy. "Caelum, can you leave us alone to...talk." The eight-year old nodded; "But is Auntie Bella coming over later?" and after a nod from Walburga, he backed out of the room.

"But, how...?"Amelia asked in bewilderment. "Albus Dumbledore said he'd been kidnapped by a Death Eater. So how is he here? Unless you're a...And so you were responsible for Peter Pettigrew's death as he also claimed," Amelia said slowly, trying to withdraw her wand without either of the Blacks noticing.

"You're quick, Amelia," Sirius said with some admiration. "I did kill Peter Pettigrew," and at this admission, Amelia's wand was quickly out in full view again. "However, I swear on my magic that I never have been or will be a Death Eater. And I did not kidnap Harry; I am his godfather and so James made me legally responsible for him."

As there was no approaching sign of immediate doom or lightning somehow appearing and striking Sirius down where he stood, Amelia carefully sheathed her wand again.

"I would like you to explain further, Mr Black," she asked, although it was clear that it was not a question to which Sirius could not choose to answer.

"Well, it started when James wanted to make me the Secret Keeper of his house at Godric's Hollow..." Sirius commenced his story.

_(AN – if you'd like to know what happens next, just read the first chapter of this fic)_

Albus Dumbledore cleared his throat, and immediately received everyone's attention. Gazing around the room, he caught everyone's eye and gently smiled, making them believe that they had been singled out for the smile. And he smirked inside, as he watched them all sit up a little straighter. It had taken him years to satisfactorily manipulate everyone like this, and despite the few who could cause a bit of trouble by not obeying his orders, everything seemed to work. It was all for the greater good, after all.

"Now, I'm sure you've all heard about the recent pardon of Sirius Black." Murmurs of assent came from various people in the room, and a few turned to glance sympathetically at Remus Lupin, who was sitting silently in the corner of the room. He gave no sign of hearing what Albus had said apart from a barely noticeable clenching of his fists. Tonks, sitting next to him, patted his knee in understanding, and he reached down and covered his hand with his, but only for a moment before pulling it back.

"So what are we going to do about it, Headmaster?" Hestia Jones called out. "Do we search for proof that he did kill those Death Eaters?"

"I was just about to approach that subject, Hestia." Dumbledore reproached gently, and she flushed, sinking back into her seat.

"I propose that we find Harry Potter, and use him...I mean ask him to help the Light. We help him to become one of us and fight the remaining Death Eaters in Britain and abroad. Including Sirius Black. After all, we know him to be responsible for the betrayal of the Potters and so it falls to us to rid the world of one more Dark wizard. It is our responsibility, nay, our duty to help the Wizarding World in this time of need." Albus wondered if he was laying it on a bit thick, but everyone seemed to be eating it in. A few even looked as if they were prepared to leave right now and hunt down Sirius Black, including Remus Lupin. Albus did actually feel genuinely sorry for the poor man; he'd lost all four of his best friends in one fell swoop.

Never mind that Albus had helped in the demises of two; James and Lily Potters' deaths could have been avoided, but the prophecy had to come true so that Voldemort could be brought down. But he really hadn't seen Sirius Black as a Death Eater; just as well, really, that Black had given away the Fidelius to Voldemort since Albus hadn't quite thought ahead as to how he was going to reveal their location to Voldemort. It was all for the greater good, after all.

"You should have seen him Sirius! Going on and on about how you were the next Dark Lord and so it was our responsibility to get Harry to get rid of you." Tonks cackled madly.

Sirius simply leaned his chair back, grinning at his cousin as she recounted the happenings of the previous Order meeting.

"I had to change my face to stop myself from laughing when he started asking me about our family connection, and whether Mum would know where you were," the currently pink-haired Auror continued.

Sirius let out a barking of laughter. "So what did you say?"

"I asked him how he could think such a thing. A noble woman like my mother consorting with her no-good, white sheep of the family cousin? Perish the thought! I then told him my mother had no wish to be known as a Black and would rather see a Snickwig than Sirius Black. He had no idea what a Snickwig was and accepted what I was saying. Poor Remus was nearly crying with laughter next to me!" Tonks finished, nearly crying with laughter.

"So how is Andie's research with Snickwigs going then?" Sirius asked. Andromeda Tonks' research with Xenophilius Lovegood was not widely known as she preferred to remain anonymous but her writing techniques would be familiar to those who read _The Quibbler_. It appeared that Albus Dumbledore did not.

"Sirius!" his mother snapped as she swept in, interrupting Tonks' response. "Chair on the floor! And Nymphadora, it's so lovely to see you! Tell me, how is Andromeda? It's nice to know that the next generation is doing so well. Apart from a few obviously," she finished waspishly, throwing a glare at Sirius.

"Believe it or not, Mother, it's rather hard to find a job and a wife when everyone outside of this house believes one is the next Dark Lord or a murderer," Sirius drawled casually, although there was a rather frustrated undertone. They had had this conversation too many times, and Sirius privately thought his mother was only repeating it to get a rise out of him.

"But there are so many nice girls in our circle of friends who know that you aren't," Walburga complained. "Why don't you give them a chance? I know Aurora Avery was rather taken with you for a while."

"Mother!" Sirius spluttered. "She's my second cousin!" Tonks was sniggering silently in the corner at Sirius' misfortune.

"Your point is?" Walburga asked. "Now, where is that blasted elf with my tea? I asked for it at least five minutes ago. And really, Nymphadora, sniggering is most uncouth. Nobody will want you if you continue doing that, especially as Andromeda and I have agreed on a ball to celebrate your new job. And your coming-out into society, naturally. Ah, Toppy, finally!"

It was now Sirius' turn to snigger as Tonks sat with her mouth wide open and an expression of disbelief on her face. "And marrying one's second cousin is perfectly legal, Sirius." Now Sirius had a similar expression of disbelief on his face.

"Mother, it would be like incest, and I have no intention of committing that!"he cried, somewhat melodramatically. "Furthermore, it leads to inbreeding! And I have Caelum as a son now. And as an heir as well, so you can rest assured in the knowledge that the Black family will not go to an outsider that has not been raised by you, and well-versed in the Black history."

"But Sirius, I would so adore to have more grandchildren," Walburga said calmly, sipping on her cup of tea. "And where exactly are you going to find anyone who is not of our circle willing to marry you?"

Sirius looked quite offended. "I'll have you know that plenty of women have found me...appealing," finishing with a smirk, that left no doubt as to the way he had meant it. Tonks punched him on the arm.

_Let's pretend Tonks is a few years older, so that she can be an Auror and in the Order, shall we? Well, hope you enjoyed! So, what about a wife for Sirius chosen by you, the readers? It can be anyone you want to her to be, 'as far as the law of Christ allows,' (sorry, felt that a History reference was kind of necessary there) and if an OC, that you put in a review, naturally, please also leave a few words to describe her, with a name as well. So, I look forward to your suggestions. Until next time!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's Note & Disclaimer – I don't own Harry Potter. Simple as that. Anyway, this is the second last chapter so I hope you enjoy and give me lots of lovely reviews, please! And next chapter should be up shortly._

Chapter 4

"Do you think it'll be over soon?" Sirius asked suddenly. "It would be nice to finally be able to walk in the fresh air without having to wear a Glamour."

Walburga looked at him in slight surprise. Normally Sirius was the one that never planned ahead, doing something rash and stupid, and not thinking of the consequences. He'd always quipped that he preferred to live in the present so to hear him talking about plans for the future was a bit of a shock for nearly everyone who knew him.

"I hope so, and of course you'll be able to go outside; Madam Bones did say she'd give you a pardon after all this was over and done with," Walburga replied slowly. And that was all she said on the matter. One could tell where Sirius' preference for living in the present came from.

They both grew silent as they listened to the shrieks of laughter coming from all over the house. Caelum had grown up with Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott as his best friends, mostly due to their prominence in his adopted family's social circle that had formed to search and destroy the Horcruxes. They were often to be found around their respective parents' houses and creating a lot of chaos. The house-elves were delighted at the mess the boys made. Their parents were not quite as happy. And so it had been decided that the parents would take it in turn to have their children cause chaos in their homes, and it had fallen to the Blacks to act as the residence for bedlam this time. But they did not truly mind; they would rather have the children act like children instead of growing up too fast.

The only real problems now were Lord Voldemort and Albus Dumbledore, but at least the Headmaster considered himself to be restrained by some of the laws and so could not affect them quite as directly as Voldemort. But it would be over soon, Walburga mused. Things were starting to emerge and make themselves known, leading to a confrontation within a few years, she felt. There were murmurs that Voldemort had returned to Britain, and Caelum would be going to Hogwarts in three years, where it was most likely that Dumbledore would make his moves.

oooooooooooooo

One year later

Sebastian Nott handled the compass carefully. He was rather annoyed that each Horcrux required its own compass, which meant spending a lot of time on building it and if he even moved the dial the wrong way, it would become defective. Several restarts had been necessary. Even so, it was becoming increasingly important to find the Horcruxes as whispers had reached him and his...colleagues of bizarre happenings in Eastern Europe, happenings that were most likely related to their former Lord, and these happenings were moving closer and closer to England. Ah, there, there, and yes! He'd managed to find the position of the last Horcrux as he scanned up North; though if he'd concentrated on London, he would have found the presence of another. He Apparated quickly to London, onto the stoop of Number 12, Grimmauld Place, and knocked at the door. He could hear the boom of his knocks echo throughout the house; obviously amplified by magic, and it took only a few moments for the loathsome house-elf to creep to the door, and open it whilst announcing that Mistress Walburga was upstairs and would be down soon to receive him in the formal living-room.

It took only a few minutes for which Sebastian was very grateful; his own wife normally loved to make him wait for as long as she felt was necessary. Jumping up as he heard her tread in the floor, he gave a little bow as she entered, and she nodded back in recognition, as she sat.

"So, Mr Nott, where is the next one?" Walburga asked lazily, reclining back on the seat.

"The compass tells me that the next Horcrux is somewhere north of here, Lady Black, and since it does not beep often, I have to conclude that it is most likely close to Scotland or maybe even in Scotland," Sebastian replied.

"Well then," Walburga said finally, "it appears that we have a hunt to carry out."

It was late afternoon by the time they were ready to set off. The first group would consist of the remaining Blacks, and Nott, for obvious reasons. The rest of the small circle of purebloods was ready to Apparate if their skills were required by the unofficial leader of their social circle. Caelum had begged to accompany them, but had been firmly told that the dangers were unknown and therefore he was not allowed to come. He vowed that he would sulk fiercely until they returned, but this was only met with a derisive snort from his adopted father.

"Shall we try the wizarding quarter of Carlisle first?" asked Sebastian, with the compass held firmly in his hands, "and then we can decide whether we need to go north of south." This was met with no objections from his companions, so he lightly shrugged his shoulders before Disapparating north to the border.

They appeared in a shadowed corner of the wizarding square there, and kept the hoods of their cloaks firmly up. Sirius in particular did not want to risk his persona being made public, as he was still a wanted criminal. The three hastily conferred, gathering around the compass, as Nott held it carefully, waiting for the needle to settle in one direction. "South" was the conclusion. "Leeds?"

In a small alleyway in the wizarding district of Leeds, "it now says we need to go further to the north-west." Sebastian read off the compass. "Kendal, perhaps?"

The Blacks nodded in acknowledgment that they had heard the name of the town, before Apparating. They could _feel_ that they were getting closer, and their hopes were realised as, upon their arrival in a field just outside of Kendal, the compass slowly started to beep. The needle spun wildly before stopping sharply on East, and so the small group Apparated to the nearest village in that direction. Little Hangleton.

They arrived just outside of the village itself, the beeping increasing frantically and were greeted by a rather sparse landscape. Many houses were dotted around the village, with a church and graveyard taking their place in the middle of the village, which was overlooked by a large manor house that had been built to dominate the village with its presence. But there was one house that seemed out of place. One small house that simultaneously called for attention yet pushed searchers away.

Sirius slowly moved closer to the wooden house that looked more like a hovel. Even from ten metres off, he could nearly taste the disarray of the 'house' and the stench of Dark magic lay thick around it. He didn't need to cast a spell to test for the presence of wards; they were so thick, they were almost visible to the naked eye. He strode back to the others, and only one word – "Wards" –was needed to galvanise Nott into action, and he swiftly Apparated away.

A few minutes went by as several pops were heard, and Walburga and Sirius watched as the rest of the war-breaking group moved towards their position. It was widely acknowledged in Britain that Antonin Dolohov and Narcissa Malfoy were amongst the best ward-breakers of their generation, and so it was rather fortunate that they belonged to their particular group of acquaintances. Despite Narcissa's status as a non-Death Eater, she had often been commanded to break down the wards of several of their enemies along with Dolohov. So, Nott had been commanded to Apparate to the Malfoys' home in Wiltshire, and then to Dolohov's home in Lancashire to inform them of this situation and to therefore request their presence. Lucius had apparently come along for Narcissa's protection. In spite of their explosive arguments, it was known that the two loved each other deeply, and would do almost anything for the other.

"I am sorry, Aunt, but Bellatrix is unable to attend as she has recently found out that she is pregnant, and does not wish to threaten the life of her child," Narcissa mentioned casually, linking arms with Lucius. "Shall we, darling?" Lucius simply replied with a small, loving smile.

It seemed like only moments before the wards had been broken, and Walburga was able to move further on her quest to destroy the Dark Lord. One of his Horcruxes resided in this small shack, and she was going to kill it. It was as simple as that. Walking towards the hovel, she shivered in slight disgust at its appearance, which only became more gruesome as she saw the skeleton of a snake that had been nailed to the front door, and then she started to feel the pull of the Dark magic. She yearned for it, and did not even realise that she had thrown open the door, regardless of the curses that could have been placed on it.

"Mother!" Sirius yelled after her. "Mother!" He finally had to _Stupefy_ his mother before she stopped, and he carefully stepped forward through the hanging door, avoiding the rotting floorboards, before picking his mother up. He did not want to risk setting off the defences that would sense the magic used, and then kill him. He huffed as he carried her out of the excuse for a house, and inwardly thanked Merlin that she didn't weigh more, before gently placing her down on the grass outside of the warded area.

"_Ennervate_!" Sirius incanted, brandishing his wand at his mother. A few seconds passed before Walburga regained consciousness, and then looked up at Sirius, dazed. She found herself rather annoyed to find that ever-present smirk on his face again. For Merlin's sake, she'd nearly died and he was smirking! She tried to curse him, but he skipped out the way, still smirking, and she growled silently. Holding her hand in expectance, she felt herself being lifted up by Lucius and Dolohov, and suddenly felt ashamed of showing them weakness. Especially Lucius. He would most likely taunt her about this for a while, she thought grimly.

"Are you feeling better, Aunt?" Narcissa asked, sounding concerned. This show of concern was only received with a faint nod of recognition in her direction, and Narcissa smiled forcedly; her aunt was fine, judging by her usual rude acknowledgment.

"Once more then," Dolohov stated, with only a faint hint of a Russian accent that betrayed his Slavic origins, and he marched forward towards the door of the shack. Narcissa was soon with him, and they worked efficiently together, breaking down their former Dark Lord's wards around the former Gaunt home.

It took several minutes before they had even finished breaking down the first one, and Sirius sighed in annoyance. He never had been one for patience, his mother thought distractedly. She was busy concentrating on the movements of the ward-breakers as they collapsed the wards surrounding the last Horcrux. Several hours passed before the two fell back, away from the shack, and collapsed exhausted upon the grassy bank under the setting sun.

After a few minutes of rest, "I think it is safe to enter now," Dolohov declared, and made the first move into the shack. Narcissa silently marvelled at his energy levels; she was still feeling fatigued from breaking the wards. After nothing nasty had happened to the Russian, the others followed. They hadn't been Slytherins for nothing. Well, apart from Sirius.

The small group stared round in slight repulsion. Only three rooms appeared to make up this shack, and all were exceedingly filthy. What appeared to be the last remains of a meal were still on the table in the centre room, and chairs had been kicked all over the room, with some even breaking under the strain of being thrown around.

"What's that?" Sirius frowned, trying to pinpoint the odd sound. "There's a faint noise; almost like...hissing? From beneath the floorboards?"

Sirius, with Padfoot's sensitive hearing, finally managed to pinpoint the sound as coming from a hole in the floor, which had been covered up with a piece of wood and had had some kind of carpet thrown over it to try and disguise it. Not daring to do magic in case there were protective wards that had been missed, Sirius knelt down, trying to rip the wood out of its securing. It was nearly rotten, so it was only a matter of minutes before the hole was exposed, and he froze upon seeing the Horcrux only two feet away from him.

"There it is!" Narcissa cried, lunging forward with her eyes only on the ring, and she was barely yanked back in time by Lucius, as the snakes guarding the ring hissed threateningly, swiftly striking at her hand that had reached down to pick up the ring. She overbalanced, falling back into Lucius' arms, and Sirius snickered at his normally graceful cousin. She shot him an angry glare, but did not otherwise respond to his taunting laugh. Looking around, it was apparent that no-one wanted to risk the deadly venom of the snakes, and it was Dolohov, who finally came up with the answer.

"Didn't you say that your son was a Parselmouth?"

Sirius's face blanched in realisation. "Of course," he breathed in realisation. "He could ask them to bring it up to us. I'll be back in a few minutes," he shouted back over his shoulder as he ran out of the shack. And he was true to his word as he returned with Caelum being dragged along behind him, and promptly deposited him in front of the others that were gathered in the shack.

There was a pause. "Sirius, what exactly did you want me to do?" the boy asked warily.

"Talk to the snakes and ask them to bring the ring there up to our level safely," Narcissa answered in Sirius' place. "You had no time to explain, cousin?" He merely gave her a sheepish grin in return, to which she rolled her eyes and turned away from him to concentrate on Harry's doings.

He was hissing quickly to the snakes, which were making no movements, and barely looked as if they were even listening, but one particularly loud hiss from Harry was met with a small rustle from one of the larger snakes. The snake seemed hesitant, yet as Harry hissed more, it appeared to be making a decision. Hissing loudly, the snake spurred the other reptiles into action, and a mass of writhing, scaly bodies slowly pushed the ring up, until Harry was able to snag it from the top of the heaving pile, and draw back his hand quickly.

'_Put me on, Harry, put me on, I'll fulfil your wishes, put me on, Harry, put me on...'_

"Aagh!" Harry shouted in surprise, flinging the ring across the room in panic. "It had a Compulsion to put it on!" he explained frantically to the adults who were looking at him oddly.

Walburga turned to face the ring, lying so innocuously on the floor, and the sides of her mouth turned up into a grim smile. "I would like to...dispose of this one. So, if you could all kindly leave?" Behind her, she heard the shuffling of her family leaving, and she allowed herself one more smirk before flourishing her wand with a triumphant look on her face, casting the _Fiendfyre_ curse, and backed away quickly. The fire that bust out of the wand slowly developed into a shape resembling a dragon that appeared to open its mouth and devour the ring that lay in front of it. One could still see the faint shape of the ring through the flickering orange of the dragon's jaw, and Walburga smirked as she heard the keening wail of the Dark Lord ring out and then slowly die away. Finally, she felt that she had had her revenge on the half-blood that had killed her son.

She silently left the small shack, only nodding at those who were waiting outside for her as Sirius followed her out. They understood the silent message, and then there were only the small sounds of the cracks of Apparition as the group gathered there returned to Grimmauld Place.

Nott quickly gave his congratulations and Apparated away as did Antonin Dolohov, and only the Malfoys remained with Walburga and Sirius as they entered the ancestral Black home.

"So then, Walburga. What happens now?" Lucius asked with a disdainful look on his face, sitting in the living room of Number 12, Grimmauld Place, with Narcissa by his side. She was pale, yet the excitement of the day had given her two crimson circles that adorned her cheekbones.

"Well, dear nephew," she answered slowly, with a predatory smile on her face, "we wait. We wait until the Dark Lord shows himself once more. And then we finish the abomination that dares to treat purebloods like his servants."

oooooooooooooo

The spirit hissed in anger. He needed this ritual so that he could come back to life, as it were, and he could not find anyone to help him do so. Surely his servants _must _have felt something from their Dark Marks, but perhaps he had been so weakened by the boy that his power to call through the Mark had also weakened. Voldemort paused. This was a...problem. How would he have his followers return to him? More importantly, how would he be able to do the ritual without any followers? He _needed _somebody's right hand, and someone to dig up his father's grave. He allowed himself a scowl at the thought of the man, before returning his mind to more important matters.

So, what to do then? He had no way to contact his followers to have them come to him, so it seemed that he would have to go to them. He scowled. This was _not _the way for a Dark Lord to behave; looking for his servants when they should be searching for _him. _Azkaban then, he thought, happily. There were bound to be large numbers of his followers there, and it would be far easier to possess one of their bodies if they were already insane. After all, how many people listen to an insane person's pleadings that there is somebody else inside their head?

He was drifting amongst the empty hallways of Azkaban, listening to the desperate cries emerging from the cells, and trying to avoid the Dementors. He was a disembodied spirit that still had a soul, and _really _did not want to lose it. But it was odd, he mused; there were barely any of his followers here. Of course there were some, like Crabbe and Goyle, who had obviously been too stupid to defend themselves adequately in court, but he was looking for the perfect body. One who was youngish, and already insane; it was much easier to possess someone when the host couldn't fight back. And there he was. Bartemius Crouch, if Voldemort remembered correctly. Only in his late twenties and that gleam of insanity had already entered his eyes. He smiled slowly with a cruel gleam in his eyes. Perfect.

It was no trouble at all to simply flow through the bars of the cell and make himself visible to the boy in front of him. All he had to then was persuade the boy that he was no hallucination and then demand that he accept that his Lord's soul would be moving into his body. Simple, really. After that, all he had to do was break out of Azkaban and he could do that easily with what knowledge he had of wandless magic. From then on, it was only an undemanding matter of crossing the strait between Azkaban and the mainland of Britain, and he was back. Free to perform his nefarious plans.

oooooooooooooo


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter. _

_So, this is the last chapter! All I can say is that I hope you enjoy and give me reviews? Also, thanks to __Manatheron __for helping with the whole evil Dumbledore bit and to __GinnyLover14 __for Sirius' wife suggestion. And, is this soon enough for everyone? I just wanted to finish the story before I go back to school._

Dumbledore sighed, dropping his head down onto his desk. How on earth had Harry Potter been Sorted into Slytherin? Even if he had been Sorted under the name Black, Dumbledore would have recognised him a mile off; the green eyes that belonged to Lily – even if they had become slightly greyer – and the tousled black hair from James, although it had become neater. Again, another effect of the apparent blood adoption. He was _supposed _to be a Gryffindor, for Merlin's sake! That way he would be surrounded by children of the Light, and it would be so much easier to keep him on track as the wizarding world's hero, rather than this Black that he had become. And now he was surrounded by the children of former Death Eaters – well, that was what they said, but Dumbledore knew they were as 'former' as he was a hater of lemon drops – and they were sure to try and sway him to the Dark under the orders of their parents. Although, he was a Black in name so he was probably already a Death Eater in training! Unfortunately, this was the general view of the wizarding world; Blacks equal Slytherin equal Death Eaters. And Sirius had wondered why everyone believed him so capable of going Dark?

But that hardly mattered now, Dumbledore thought miserably. The boy had most likely been raised to mistrust him from first sight, and that could only change if he somehow managed to become friendly with the Light, and _that _could only work if he was a Gryffindor. Wait. Could he...could he have the boy re-Sorted? It was part of the Hogwarts Charter that a student could be re-sorted, but the minor snag was that he had to have the full support of all four Heads of Houses and there had to be an extremely good reason. Plus, there was paperwork. Well, persuade them all that it was for the greater good, and perhaps remind Severus about the origins of Caelum Black. Smiling predatorily, he quickly scribbled down a few rough plans of how best to make Harry Potter a Gryffindor. And how to get him away from the Blacks.

"But don't you see, Minerva?" Dumbledore was trying to explain a day later. "If he stays in Slytherin, he'll be corrupted by the Dark. If we can resort him, then it will be for Harry's own good." Minerva still didn't look convinced, Albus noted sadly, and he sighed softly. Would he have to use a Confundus charm on her again?

"You, of all people, Minerva, should know how entrenched the Blacks are in the Dark Arts," Dumbledore pleaded. He didn't really like using the Confundus Charm – it did tend to start frying the brain, as it were, after copious amounts of use.

"Orion Black may have been extremely fond of Dark magic," Minerva said firmly, "but Sirius is a different person! I like to think I know my Gryffindors after seven years, and no matter what you think, I am sure that Sirius did not betray James to You-Know-Who." The phoenix gave a squawk of approval, but Dumbledore did not take any notice of the bird.

"Severus, you must agree with me!" Dumbledore moved onto Snape as his next target...possible ally. "Surely you wouldn't want to have a reminder of Lily in your house for the next seven years?"

Severus glared. That was a low blow, and he heard faint sounds of sympathy coming from the others around him. "The boy is...rather different when compared to his natural father," he said silkily. "Personally, I find him to be much more sufferable as a Slytherin. He is a lot easier to teach; Gryffindors seem to think they know everything," and threw a sneer at McGonagall who bristled at this insult to her charges.

"I too do not find Mr Black to be any trouble," Flitwick added with an approving smile. "He is a most calm and conscientious student and he often helps his fellow Slytherins. A lot like his natural mother, I think, in that he is a virtual prodigy at Charms."

This wasn't going right, Dumbledore mentally shrieked. They were supposed to be condemning him so that he could have a viable reason for Sorting him into Gryffindor. Looking at Pomona, he saw the same expression on her face as on the others, and it was certain he was not going to find an ally in her. Why did they not understand? What was the happiness of one boy when compared to the safety of the whole wizarding world? It was for the greater good and nobody could seem to understand that!

He relented. "Perhaps you are right in that Mr Potter should not be re-Sorted. I shall leave this matter alone then." If one was sharp enough, they would have heard the unspoken 'for now' at the end of his sentence, but three of the four professors nodded kindly at him, now that he had regained his senses and left quietly. However, Severus' eyes gleamed with hidden thoughts, and Albus wondered what exactly was hiding behind the veneer of his pitch-black eyes as he too left.

"Actually, Minerva, would I be able to see you on a matter of paperwork?" he called out just before the woman in question had left. Albus made sure that the door was shut before returning his attention to his Deputy Headmistress who was looking at him in expectation.

"_Confundo_!" Dumbledore cast on his Deputy Headmistress. "_Obliviate_!" He watched happily as she looked around dazed. "Oh, Albus! I'm so sorry; I must have missed what you said."

"Not at all, Minerva," Albus replied, sipping at his cup of tea. "I was simply saying how it would be a good idea for Harry to be fostered by some of the Lighter families so that we can turn him away from the Dark. For his own good, of course."

He watched her carefully as she hesitated before answering. Her natural instincts were most likely trying to throw off the effects of the Confundus

"I suppose you may be right," McGonagall finally allowed, and he breathed a small sigh of relief. "I believe Harry has a trust fund so that there would be an allowance for his foster parents to spend on him. It wouldn't _truly_ be a hardship for them to take him in then."

Albus simply smiled as he watched Minerva plan.

Conversely, a few days later, Albus Dumbledore could be found cursing loudly and throwing things across his office. Several of the items had been thrown clear out of the window as well. Stewing in his anger, he even started to curse a couple of the portraits but the wards on them only reflected the curses back at him, and he had to quickly dive to the floor to avoid them. He sank down into his chair, covering his head with his hands. The bloody Wizengamot had blocked his appeal to take Harry away from the Blacks, indicating that he appeared to be well-loved in his current home, and he was able to be well-provided for. Did nobody understand that things had happen for the greater good, and this included the boy being a symbol of the Light so that he could defeat Lord Voldemort and, if Albus was lucky, die so that he would always be remembered as a Light symbol. If he didn't die, then Albus had planned to mentor him in all things Dumbledore so that perhaps Harry Potter would further his agenda when Albus had passed on, after at least another hundred years of life, which was enough to completely brainwash the boy.

But those plans were all going down the toilet now, because the bloody Blacks refused to let him out of their custody!

Caelum was lying by the Black Lake in the late afternoon sunshine and simply relaxing as he tried to forget about the copious amounts of work that the professors had given him, and it was only his first year! He frowned, thinking of the glares that many other members of the school had been giving him ever since his Sorting earlier in the school year. Most people never saw past his name to try and recognise the boy and so name that he had once had. As a Black and son to a wanted fugitive, he was treated almost like a pariah in the school unless they already knew the truth, which included many of the Slytherins, and Susan Bones, who had tried her best to increase Harry's reputation in Hufflepuff House. There was also the odd dreamy girl who had been Sorted into Ravenclaw, and had approached him one afternoon, claiming that although Stubby Boardman was innocent, she was sure he'd had a good reason as he was perhaps trying to avoid the Rotfang conspiracy. It had taken him a while to realise that she meant his godfather, Sirius Black. Then, she'd eyeballed him with a very focused expression for her and told him to beware of spiky things. He'd politely thanked her, and she had smiled dreamily at him before wandering off. Harry wasn't quite sure what to think of her, but had rather liked her odd sense of humour. Theo and Draco had immediately teased him about having a _crush_ on her, and so he'd had to knock that crazy idea out of their heads. He thought the detention was well worth it; they certainly hadn't teased him anymore about Luna Lovegood.

He heard a crackle in the dry grass behind him, and he half-turned, expecting it to be perhaps Draco or Theo attempting to sneak up on him. He was therefore rather surprised when he saw a hedgehog trying to escape his notice before transforming into a man with straw-coloured hair and with an evil grin on his face. "_Stupefy_!" he cried, and Caelum's last thought before his world faded into blackness was that Luna was right.

Caelum woke up with a start, only to flinch as he saw a wand pointed right at his face. "Why, good evening, Mr Potter. So...nice of you to join our little party," the man in front of him said with a demented grin on his face. "Master would have been awfully hurt if you'd declined his conversation, and then Master would have punished poor Barty but it was lucky that Barty found you and had you come here, wasn't it? Never mind about that, though. Barty has the entertainment to prepare for, and you, dear little Potter, are the main event! So then, let Barty Crouch escort you to your seat!"

"_Incarcerous_!" Crouch cast, his face twisted into a mocking smile as he watched the ropes fly from his wand, looping themselves around the boy and the gravestone in the form of the Reaper, and pulling themselves tight which forced the boy to yelp in pain as the rough edges of the ropes pulled on his skin and his head impacted hard on the stone.

Caelum watched, dazed, as the man who had kidnapped him – Barty Crouch, he'd called himself – move towards a cauldron that was placed just in front of him. He had a wriggling and squalling baby in his arms, but the glimpse that Caelum caught of the baby showed him that this was no typical child. It might have been once, but the effects of whatever had been done to it had turned it into something resembling a monster; the limbs had been elongated to different lengths and there was an expression of pure evil upon its face. The kidnapper gently set the baby inside the cauldron and its gurgles disappeared as it too disappeared beneath the water in the cauldron.

"_Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!_" Barty Crouch proclaimed proudly, raising his wand high in the air, and there was a slight pause before the earth of the grave that Caelum was tied to shifted, a small flurry of dust rising and then falling into the cauldron, sending sparks in all directions.

"_Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master!_" Caelum watched in horror as Barty Crouch Jr sawed through his wrist bone, cutting his hand off, with nary a whimper emerging from his mouth, and with an insane smile on his face all throughout the procedure. He let it hand on the end of his wrist for a small moment of time, before sawing through the last piece of flesh that connected his hand, and a dull thud could be heard as it impacted on the bottom of the cauldron, making the thick liquid turn a bright crimson red.

"_Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe!_" No signs of pain emanated from Crouch's face as he made his way towards the Boy-Who-Lived, drawing out a small knife from the depths of his robes, and as he cut away the right arm of Caelum's robe, the latter moved his arm a little closer to the knife. Caelum could only hope that 'willingly given' instead of 'forcibly taken' would lessen the effect that his blood would have. He watched, almost desperately, as the cauldron's fluid turned a creamy white colour, praying that the creature inside would drown, but it was not to be as he saw a figure rise up out of the cauldron, _becoming, twisting, mutating _into something that was most definitely not natural.

It landed lightly, almost softly, on the ground, and it did not appear to mind the fact that it was naked. Rather, it almost seemed to revel in it, stroking its body with long-fingered hands and marvelling at the way it could lift its limbs so effortlessly. Caelum could honestly say he'd never seen anything quite so disgusting. "Robe me," it breathed slowly, and Crouch hurried forward, conjuring a pair of robes quickly, draping them around the almost skeletal body that preened as it gathered the folds around itself. Finally, it looked up, and straight at Caelum, who only had time to catch a glimpse of a bone-white face, a snake-like nose and two crimson eyes before his scar started to pulse and he cried out in agony. Suddenly the pain dramatically decreased and Caelum blearily looked up to see Voldemort – for he had no doubt that this was indeed the Dark Lord – looking very pleased at the effect he had caused.

"Harry Potter," Voldemort greeted. "We meet again."

The boy said nothing, but simply stared back at him with a blank face. Voldemort frowned. This was...rather unexpected. He would have thought Harry Potter to have the fundamental characteristics of a Gryffindor, eager to rush into things without any thought, and calling it _bravery. _He snorted in disgust at the foolishness of some, but put it out of his mind as he saw his prize tied to the gravestone, the Reaper holding the boy in his stone embrace.

"Yeah. This is what, the second time we've met? And you still haven't killed me?" Voldemort started at the sound of the boy's voice. He had the same blank face as before, but when Voldemort peered closer, there was the slightest hint of mocking in the boy's eyes. Snarling furiously at this _boy_ who dared to ridicule him, he sent a _Crucio_ at him, and felt a shiver of pleasure run through him as he watched his enemy scream and write from the pain. He cared nothing for the fact that Harry was only a child, and even put a bit more power into the curse.

For Harry, it seemed like years had passed before the madman in front of him stopped the curse. He was no stranger to it, of course, as growing up in a Dark family did tend to introduce one to some of the nastier curses that were found in the wizarding world.

Voldemort watched the boy dispassionately as he tried to recover from the effects of the curse, but he could _still _see the mocking defiance in the boy's eyes. It went straight to his stomach, stirring up feelings of fury which only influenced the growth of the darkness in him, fuelling his desire to hurt the boy, to do something irreparable to him. So he did.

"Avada Kedavra!" he bellowed, and cackled madly as he watched the sickly green light fly from his wand and impact on the boy's chest. There was a moment of pause as he watched the boy's head rise to meet his gaze, and the sheer loathing in his stare almost had an effect on Voldemort. Almost. Then, time seemed to stop, and then the Dark Lord could have _sworn_ that the eyes of his foe flashed _red_, before Potter's head dropped to lie limply against his chest.

Voldemort stared for a few moments before shrieking with joy as he saw no sign of movement from the boy, giving no thought to the flash of red eyes. Potter was dead. _Harry Potter was truly dead!_ Spinning around, he pulled Crouch up from his position on the ground before snapping, "Arm." Knowing which arm he meant, Barty quickly held it out, only flinching when he felt the burn of the wand as it activated the Dark Mark. He barely whimpered as his Lord shoved him away, landing on his stump of an arm, but stumbled to his feet, cradling his shortened arm, and moved back to wait by the cauldron from where his Lord had been reborn.

He felt barely any pain; he was too ecstatic at the sight of seeing his Lord once more. He had spent so much time waiting; in Azkaban, for one, hearing the demented whispers of the other followers around him, and feeling a strange sort of pride in all of them. They were the bravest; strong enough to stand up for the Dark Lord in front of the court and proudly announce their doings that had been done in his name. He was rather surprised that Bellatrix Lestrange had not been there in Azkaban with him. She was famous in the wizarding world for being one of the Dark Lord's most fanatical servants and Barty doubted that she had not at least been interrogated by the Aurors.

He slumped suddenly to the ground, leaning against the cauldron to try and remain upright, and Barty grinned dementedly as he realised what exactly the possession of his body by Lord Voldemort had done. It was killing him, but Barty really didn't mind. How could he when his sacrifice had meant that his Lord would come back to life? The takeover of his body by Voldemort had forced his body to become dependent on the other's magic, and now that it had been removed, his body was decaying. Bartemius Crouch Jr died with a smile on his face.

Slowly but surely, sounds of Apparition echoed throughout the graveyard as his followers made their presence known. Dressed in their identical black robes and white masks, they were nearly indistinguishable from each other, but Voldemort knew who they were. The flash of blond hair told him Lucius was here. The hulking bodies standing at least two feet above the others meant that Crabbe and Goyle were present. A mad cackle indicated that Bellatrix was in the graveyard. Oh, there were many signs for Voldemort to recognise his followers, not to mention the use of the Dark Mark which showed him who exactly was in his presence. Silently they moved until they were standing in a semicircle around him, waiting for his orders, but Voldemort did nothing. He would wait. Wait until one of them dared to question him, and then he would relay his demands.

There was a small movement amongst his followers as they noticed the dead body of Harry Potter tied to the gravestone of his father. Curious, Voldemort mused, but he took it as a sign that they now knew that the approach of his absolute power over the wizarding world was imminent. After all, he thought with a cruel smile, they also knew what else was imminent if they thought anything other to that. It was taking a while for them to make a sound, Voldemort realised; but of course, they knew what was in store. No matter; he could be patient when it suited him.

"Master?" one finally began. "How is it that you have returned to us?"

"_Crucio_!" Voldemort whispered, revelling in the screams of pain that emerged from the man's throat as he screamed himself hoarse. "_I smell guilt_," he hissed at them. "I smell the guilt of those who swore an oath of undying loyalty to their master, yet never took the time to come to my aid." The Death Eaters shuffled, but before they could answer, the sound of Apparation echoes throughout the graveyard and suddenly Albus Dumbledore was in their midst.

Voldemort gaped at his sudden appearance, and Dumbledore took the chance to size up his opposition. He was a disgusting mockery of a human being, taller than normal, bone-white, with a snake-like nose, and Dumbledore shuddered at the sight of him. It was even worse when he started to speak. "And what brings you to this humble graveyard, Albus?" His voice was soft, yet cloying, and it almost seemed to caress Dumbledore's skin with the resonance of Dark magic.

"You need to be stopped, Tom," Albus said gravely, and Voldemort hissed at the mention of his given name, immediately launching into battle with the old Headmaster. Albus felt a jolt of shock run through him before returning to the present threat that had just tried to curse him, as he saw the small body of Caelum Black – no, Harry Potter, he corrected himself –hanging limply to his right, tied to a gravestone.

How on earth was Harry Potter going to fulfil the prophecy and get rid of this Dark Lord if he was _dead?_ Perhaps Neville Longbottom would have to be used for this task. He was certainly malleable enough to be manipulated into doing so, the Headmaster thought. He swore silently; one of Voldemort's curses had nearly hit his arm. Shoving the thoughts of Harry Potter's death aside, he concentrated fully on his enemy.

The battle between the two famous foes was truly something to watch; jets of coloured lights were flying everywhere, and only when they hit their target did they truly show their danger. Gravestones around the duelling pair were slowly being eroded by the curses that hit them, and it took all the skill the Death Eaters had to twist and dodge the curses that had flown off in their direction but more than one was hit. Of course, Albus Dumbledore and Lord Voldemort were not without their own fair share of injuries; the Headmaster was currently suffering from a broken collarbone, a cursed leg, and several cuts and grazes, while the Dark Lord had a large burn that covered the right side of his body and a cursed wound that was seeping blood on his left leg. They carried on duelling, with the tempo and danger increasing before a spell that was light-grey in colour shot from Voldemort's wand and hit Dumbledore directly on the chest, who looked down in horror at the place where it had impacted. It was a curse that would become visible, and took the form of tendrils of black shadow that crept over the body, and when it had reached the end of every limb, it slowly sucked out all the moisture from the body. It also had the effect of paralysing the body when the tendrils had reached to the knees and elbows, and so it was obvious that the subject of this curse would need immediate medical attention. Dumbledore looked conflicted; he knew that this was his best chance to kill Voldemort, but on the other hand, he would die very soon if he stayed and he was not the one of the prophecy. His decision made, he Apparated away from the graveyard.

Voldemort laughed wildly in triumph as he watched Dumbledore disappear from view, but paused when he heard no other sounds of laughter emanating from his followers. Odd, he frowned. They normally joined in with his maniacal laughter or else they faced the Cruciatus curse, but when he looked around, he found a group of purebloods facing him with hard faces that showed no sign of emotion. They were gradually moving closer, and the Dark Lord looked wildly around, searching for a face that showed sympathy to the cause, but he saw none.

Slowly, step by step, the purebloods amassed around him approached him with stony faces. No hint of mercy could be seen on their faces, and Voldemort suddenly knew that his old followers would never serve under him again. Somehow, in the space of ten years, they had regained their own wills, and were now very willing to kill him. He also knew that he would not be able to defeat all of them at once, even if he released all of his power at once, and caused a magical version of a bomb. Unfortunately for him, that would also have the detrimental effect of killing him, and he did certainly not wish to die after he'd only just got his body back. Granted, it wasn't quite the same as before for which he was sorry; it was certainly easier to charm people into taking the mark when one actually looked human.

Time had almost seemed to come to a standstill as his former followers surrounded him in a semicircle, and he spun around desperately, looking for the one that would start the cursing. He had no fear that they could kill him; after all, he had his Horcruxes. But, a horrible thought struck him, what if his former servants had discovered them? He pushed it away, preferring to keep his mind focused on the current threat.

A branch cracked behind him, and he froze. He hadn't seen anyone behind him, hadn't seen any of his servants move in order to try to attack him from behind. Whirling around, he only had time to take in the whispered words, a sickly green light that matched the silver-tinged emerald eyes so full of hate, and a lightning scar that looked crimson on the boy's bone white forehead.

The soulless husk of the former Dark Lord crumpled to the ground, with the boy that had killed him standing behind, his wand unwaveringly pointed at the body on the ground before him.

"Caelum?" Lucius asked quietly and in slight awe of the boy before him. After all, it wasn't every day that your nephew survives the Killing curse. For a second time, he mentally added. The boy had not appeared to hear him, and Lucius stepped closer, freezing when the wand swung up to lock onto his body. "Caelum?" he tried again, hoping that his voice would get through to the boy in his state of shock, and it worked. The boy focused on him, and promptly dropped his wand to the ground as he ran forward and hugged Lucius Malfoy around the waist. To say the pureblood was surprised was an understatement. Nobody, not even Draco, had _ever _hugged him around the waist, but he let it slide this once. After all, the boy had just rid him of the Dark Lord.

"It's all over, it's all over, it's all over," the boy was murmuring over and over again into the folds of Lucius' robes, and he clasped Caelum's shoulder, trying for some sort of comfort, before addressing the other former Death Eaters around him. "Mrs Black will call a meeting in a few days. You shall be there." Before anyone could protest, Lucius Apparated away, holding onto Caelum tightly and landed on the stoop of Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

Caelum let out a small sob, and threw himself at the door as it opened, darting past the rather confused form of Kreacher, who opened the door wider, expecting Lucius to enter. He walked past, dismissive of the house-elf, and made his way to where he could hear talking. He opened the door quietly, not wishing to disturb his aunt-in-law and cousin-in-law. Walburga was looking stunned and Sirius worried as his son held tightly to him.

"What the hell happened, Lucius?" Sirius demanded, hugging his son, and glared at the Slytherin when he took his time in answering.

"It appears that the Dark Lord is dead for good," Lucius answered calmly. "Caelum killed him. But when the Dark Lord called us, Caelum was already dead, so I for one would like to know how that could be."

"What?" Sirius looked horrified, and unconsciously hugged the boy closer to him. "Harry, is this true? Did Voldemort kill you?" The small head that was visible nodded, and then buried closer to Sirius, if that was possible. "What the fuck?" Sirius finally said in confusion.

"He was a Horcrux," Walburga said softly in a tone of realisation. "Voldemort must have made him one in 1981, and so when he killed Harry tonight, their souls must have battled for dominance over who was to be killed." Lucius nodded, his curiosity satisfied, and quickly said his goodbyes.

It was all over, he suddenly realised, as he stood before the gates to Malfoy Manor. They opened automatically, recognising the Malfoy blood, but he stood there in the light drizzle and rolled up his sleeve. His shout of joy could be heard from the Manor where Narcissa was anxiously awaiting news of her husband and of what had happened that day.

"What happened in the graveyard, pup?" Sirius asked gently. Caelum hadn't got out of bed since the incident, and he was starting to get rather worried so he had decided to bit the bullet, as it were, and question Caelum about what had happened in the graveyard. Caelum was staring at the wall, away from the worried eyes of both Sirius and Remus, who had joined his friend to make sure that Caelum was alright. They sat in silence for a long time; the adults letting their son and nephew know that they were not going to give up on the questioning even if he did not want to speak, before Caelum gave up.

"I saw Mum and Dad," Caelum finally said, after it had become clear that Sirius and Remus were not going to leave off the matter. It certainly shut them up, he thought, when he'd said that.

"You saw Lily and James?" Sirius asked carefully, after it had become clear that his adopted son was not going to volunteer anymore information and Moony looked rather disinclined to speak as his mouth was open in shock.

"Yes." Caelum finally rolled over and stared at his father, before proceeding to speak. "Voldemort killed me." He quickly cast a charm on his father and honorary uncle that would keep them stuck to their seats, and quickly continued. "But then I was in a train station with my parents. It looked a bit like King's Cross, I thought at the time, but I guess it doesn't really matter. Anyways, Mum and Dad just...appeared out of nowhere. They told me that I had died but that I wasn't dead exactly, because Voldemort had made me a Horcrux, but that I could stay with them if I wanted."

His father and uncle looked shocked at the announcement; their son or nephew had died but hadn't truly died. A random thought flashed through Remus' mind of a movie where that had happened; something to do with princesses wasn't it?

"I almost wanted to at first," Caelum's small voice cut through both Sirius and Remus' thoughts, and they were slightly startled at the fact that he had wanted to die, "and they said they wouldn't mind but you two would be awfully upset, and then I remembered about you guys and the rest of the family and Draco and Theo as well, so I wanted to come back. And there was a baby crying," he said, wrinkling his nose, "but Mum and Dad ignored it, so I did as well. And then, just before they disappeared and I woke up in the graveyard, they said they were proud of me and of you guys as well. And then Mum said she was happy that you weren't so hot-headed, Father, and that you took me here to Grandmother, otherwise you could have ended up in Azkaban because you went after Wormtail and he killed thirteen Muggles, framing you."

The two men looked at each other in shock; surely the Ministry wouldn't send people to Azkaban without a trial. "Wait. How would Lily know that?"Remus asked, puzzled.

"Mum said that there were other universes that you can see in heaven, and they happen depending on what choices you made. She told me that she was glad that you chose this one otherwise I would have grown up with the Dursleys." All three made matching faces of disgust.

"Then I woke up on the stone, and I remember still seeing Mum and Dad in front of me and saying that they – they loved me so much and wished they could be with me, and they wo-would be proud of me whatever I wanted to do," Caelum finished, tears starting to fall from his eyes.

There was a pause as Sirius and Remus took in what they had just heard, before Remus leaned forward on his chair and hugged his honorary nephew. Sirius looked surprised – normally Moony wasn't one for physical displays of affection – but also leant over, wrapping his arms around Caelum, offering him comfort as he cried silently. They stayed like that for quite a long time, before Sirius cleared his throat, which echoed loudly in the quiet of the room, and both Remus and Caelum turned to look at him questioningly. "I also have an announcement to make. I'm engaged."

Remus simply stared for a moment before roaring with laughter, dramatically changing the general mood of the room. "Sirius, you old dog, you! Getting tied down, are we? Whatever happened to 'I'll be a bachelor until the day I die. I'm much too _serious _to ever be tied down'" and then promptly started to laugh with increased fervour.

"You said that?" Caelum quickly interjected with a smirk on his face. Merlin, was this blackmail material! "Who is she?"

Sirius blushed at the question, and muttered something under his breath. Caelum looked at him in confusion, whilst Moony burst out into laughter all over again, pointing and laughing at both Sirius and Caelum.

"Who?" Caelum asked, confused. Why was Remus laughing at him? "Say her name again, Sirius, and soon, because I really don't like that smirk that Moony's got on his face."

"Aurora Sinistra," Sirius muttered again, but loud enough for his godson to hear this time. When Caelum still looked confused, Remus interjected, with a chuckle, "You might know her as Professor Sinistra, cub."

His eyes widened in realisation and horror. "My teacher! You had to pick a teacher of mine!" Remus burst out laughing at Caelum's next remark. "But you're going to know what I'm doing all the time! And how I do in class!" Now Sirius was smirking as he watched his godson's horror and panic at the situation, and Caelum pouted as he realised that both Sirius and Remus were laughing at him.

"Ah, Lucius, good to see you," Fudge babbled. "Now what's this about a complaint of magical explosions in Little Hangleton?"

Lucius regarded the short portly man in front of him with visible disdain. How he'd ever managed to work with this man was beyond him, really. The sheer stupidity and cowardice he displayed was enough to upset even the person with the best intentions. He smirked, though, as he realised his failure to answer had caused the man to tremble slightly.

"Lucius?" he asked, almost fearfully.

"So sorry, Minister," he drawled in reply. "My mind was on something else. Would you mind awfully if I opened the window?"

"N-No, of course not," Fudge stuttered. There was something about Lucius today that distinctly put him on edge, and he thought for one terrible moment that Lucius would swing around and kill him. He grasped for his wand, and felt secure in his knowledge that if Lucius did try to kill him now, he wouldn't be able to. He put out of his mind Lucius' reputation as one of the most sadistic, and quickest , Death Eaters out of his mind; after all, Lucius had been Imperius-ed into doing that monster's command. But a subconscious part of him wondered if his story had actually been true as Lucius turned around, stepping away from the window, with a small smirk as he saw Fudge with his hand on his wand.

Fudge let out a small sigh of relief as he casually moved his hand away from his wand, pretending to adjust his acid-green bowler hat, but he saw that Lucius' eyes missed none of his movements. A wave of anxiety flowed through him, and it seemed clear that there was something wrong. He was about to voice his fears to Lucius, but he was interrupted by said man.

"Oh, and in answer to your question, Minister, the explosions were caused by the rebirth of Lord Voldemort last night," Lucius said casually, buffing his nails against the soft fabric of his robes.

"Wh-What!" the Minister stuttered out. "You-Know-Who? Alive again? That can't possibly be true," he said, shaking his head and waving the words away. "Harry Potter killed him. So he can't have been re-born. Really, Lucius, where did you get these rumours from?"

Lucius simply stared at him. How _thick _could one get? He had been one of the most important Death Eaters during the war, and this man dared to question him about the rise of his former Master?

"Actually, Minister, it is true," he said calmly. He thought himself very restrained for not attacking the man, actually. He definitely deserved a prize. "I know it's true because I was there."

Fudge went pale and stumbled backwards, hitting the corner of his desk, and nearly falling over. He sat on the floor, frozen in fear, unable to get back up, and simply stared up at the blond Death Eater in front of him. "And I suppose I should say that it's been a pleasure working with you, Minister, but if I'm honest, it _really _hasn't," Lucius drawled lazily. "And now you have to die."

Fudge's eyes widened in shock before there came a whisper of 'Avada Kedavra' and a green light flew through the window, striking Fudge in the middle of his chest. For a moment, he looked at Lucius in confusion, obviously seeking some sort of answer, and only found a smirk that answered the unasked question on his face. Lucius was watching in delight as Fudge crumpled heavily to the floor, and it took him a few moments to rearrange his face into something resembling the emotions of shock and slight horror as he waited for the Aurors to come running in. After all, he had just seen the Minister of Magic killed right in front of him. Never mind that he'd planned the whole thing.

It took a few days for the results of the emergency election to come in, and there was almost a unanimous agreement that supported the election of Lucius Malfoy to the position of Minister. One thing that had rather shocked the was the public was Amelia Bones' support for the new Minister, as her loathing for the man was almost infamous in the Ministry; she had personally been at the head of the investigations into his actions as a Death Eater at the end of the war, and had headed several raids into his home for the purpose of finding Dark artefacts, all of which had failed. But now she was _supporting _him!

Said woman was currently smiling wryly at the newspaper where it announced Lucius Malfoy's new position. She hadn't had much choice in voting for him; Walburga Black had been _very _vocal about her choices after she had visited the Black home, but she was happy in her position as Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and to be completely honest, Lucius Malfoy would probably be a _much _better Minister when compared to Cornelius Fudge. Indeed, one law he had passed in his first day as Minister called for the introduction of Muggleborns into the wizarding world a year earlier so that they could be educated on the wizarding culture. Amelia smiled, almost fondly; nothing would ever be quite like before, she thought. With Sirius Black advising the Minister, (whether Lucius wanted it or not) there would be definite change for the entire wizarding world.

In fact, the only person who had seemed to oppose Lucius Malfoy's appointment as Minister was Albus Dumbledore, but he had simply been overruled by the other members of the Wizengamot. After all, with the Boy-Who-Lived's (for a second time!) support, Lucius Malfoy was immediately popular throughout the entirety of wizarding Britain. The copious donations that had been 'given' to the other members of the Wizengamot also helped to ensure his popularity.

Snarling furiously, the Headmaster in question strode away from the courtroom, where the new Minister had just been elected, ignoring the numerous reporters that tried to get a quote from likely the only man who opposed Lucius Malfoy. He elbowed a few of the reporters out the way, before disappearing into thin air as he Apparated.

Rita Skeeter narrowed her eyes at the retreating back of Albus Dumbledore as she picked herself up off the ground where she had so unceremoniously been shoved. He would pay, she thought darkly. She didn't know when or where, but _he would._

A pop sounded, and Albus Dumbledore emerged onto the edge of the Hogwarts wards, looking around cautiously. No sound was heard out of the nearby wood, and he relaxed, albeit keeping his hand on his wand. This reflex served him well, as when a crimson beam shot out of the nearest clump of trees at him, he was able to quickly block it. The unknown attacker kept up their barrage of spells, forcing him to concentrate solely on the clump of tress in front of him, so it was a small shock when he heard the whispered words of Stupefy come from behind him, and he collapsed forwards. He strained to lift his head to see who had attacked him, and widened his eyes with disbelief as he met the dispassionately cold eyes of Severus Snape before darkness completely overtook him.

He woke suddenly, and was immediately aware of the presence of two people in the room. One he guessed was Severus, but the other was unknown. He lay still, trying to avoid their notice so that he could play dead for a bit longer and perhaps figure out who the unknown was and what he wanted. Unfortunately for Dumbledore, Snape and his accomplice only seemed to be talking about inane things such as the weather, which suddenly switched onto a rather gorier topic. His death. They both seemed to be taking an extraordinary amount of pleasure in planning it out, and when it got one particularly disgusting bit, Dumbledore flinched. It was a barely noticeable twitch but it was enough to catch Snape's attention, who silently pointed it out to the man standing by him, who stepped forward to where Dumbledore was laying.

"Well, well, well," the voice drawled. "Look at what we have here. The Headmaster." This last word was said with so much scorn that Dumbledore could nearly feel the contempt and disdain that was dripping off it.

He strained to raise his head to meet the eyes of the man by him, and was only a little surprised to see that it was Sirius Black. He had long suspected that the man wanted vengeance, but how could Black get to him? But now he was defenceless, and Albus lowered his head in defeat. He was most likely going to die, and to be honest, that was just really...annoying. He couldn't exactly think of any other words that described his untimely death as well as that. All those plans and ideas would go to waste, and his school would fall into the hands of those who would _change _things. He wouldn't be the great Albus Dumbledore, the esteemed Headmaster and Head Warlock of the Wizengamot, anymore. He'd simply be another old man who had died and was buried somewhere whose location would eventually be forgotten by time.

"_Cordis tempus augmentis_!" Sirius cast at the man in front of him, and Albus gasped as he felt the curse hit him, centring on his heart with an odd burning feeling before he felt the tempo of his heart alter slightly and start to speed up, faster and faster.

Sirius stared at the old dying man in front of him with a cruel smile adorning his face. Snape shifted by him as they watched the man die and Sirius suspected that he was feeling a little guilty about not doing anything for the man that had helped him, had given him a job and a feeling of hope. Time for realisation, Sirius silently scoffed.

"You do remember that he was the man that did nothing to punish me after fifth year. He was the one indirectly responsible for Lily's death. He was the one that took you in because you were a useful tool as a spy and teacher. Nothing else," Sirius said bluntly.

Severus' expression hardened and he glared at Sirius, but said nothing. It was true, after all. Sirius shrugged before levitating the soon-to-be former Headmaster away from the shack that had conjured in the midst of the clump of trees to keep them hidden, and put him down, none too gently, on the road, near to the edge of the wards. This location, along with the curse that sped up the heart's tempo, would lead anyone on discovering it to think that the Headmaster had died from a heart attack after the stress of Apparating from London to Hogwarts.

He heard Snape Apparating away from behind him after dispelling the charms that held up the shack and as it vanished, it took the evidence with it, what little there was anyway. Sirius watched until the Headmaster gasped for breath as his heart kept speeding until it finally stuttered and stopped. He stood there for a moment, simply watching, before Apparating away from the scene and returning home. Perhaps Aurora wouldn't mind a surprise visit tonight.

_Fin._

_Author's note – so Voldemort's dead, as is Dumbledore, and everything seems as if it's going to be alright, which it is. Hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to review!_


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